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EXAMINATION 

OF  THE 

PRETENSIONS 

OF 

NEW  ENGLAND 

TO 
COMMERCIAL  PRE-EMINENCE. 

TO  WHICH  IS  ADDED, 

A  VIEW  OF  THE  CAUSES 

OF 

THE  SUSPENSION  OF  CASH  PAYMENTS 

AT  THE  BANKS 


PHILADELPHIA.- 
PRINTED  FOR  M.  CAREY. 

1814. 


T, 


District  of  Pennsylvania,  to  toit: 

•   BE  IT  REMEMBERED,  that  on  the  eighteenth  day 

of  November,  in  the  Thirty-ninth  year  of  the  Inde- 
pendence of  the  United  States  of  America,  A.  D.  1814. 
Henry  C.  Carey  of  the  said  District,  hath  deposited  in 
this  Office,  the  Title  of  a  Book,  the  right  whereof  he 
claims  as  Proprietor,  in  the  words  following,  to  wit : 

"  Examination  of  the  Pretensions  of  New  England 
"  to  Commercial  Pre-eminence.  To  which  is  added,  a 
"  View  of  the  Causes  of  the  Suspension  of  Cash  Pay- 
u  raents  at  the  Banks." 

In  conformity  to  the  Act  of  the  Congress  of  the  Unit- 
ed States,  intituled  "  An  Act  for  the  encouragement  of 
learning,  by  securing  the  copies  of  Maps,  Charts,  and 
Books  to  the  authors  and  proprietors  of  such  copies  dur- 
ing the  times  therein  mentioned."  And  also  to  the 
Act  entitled  **  An  Act  supplementary  to  an  Act  entitled 
M  An  Act  for  the  encouragement  of  learning  by  securing 
the  copies  of  Maps,  Charts,  and  Books  to  the  authors 
and  proprietors  of  such  copies  during  the  times  therein 
mentioned,"  and  extending  the  benefits  thereof  to  the 
Arts  of  designing,  engraving,  and  etching  historical 
and  other  prints. 

D.  CALDWELL,  Clerk 
of  the  District  of  Pennsylvania. 


PREFACE. 


It  is  a  melancholy  fact,  that  the  peace 
and  happiness  of  nations  are  jeopardized 
and  not  unfrequently  destroyed  by  the 
ambition  of  a  few,  acting  upon  the  ma- 
ny, on  the  most  frivolous  grounds.  His- 
tory furnishes  instances  of  whole  na- 
tions ruined,  to  promote  the  sinister 
views  of  one  or  two  individuals.  Athens 
is  a  melancholy  proof.  The  war  between 
her  and  Sparta,  which  reduced  her  from 
the  highest  pinnacle  of  happiness  and 
glory  to  the  lowest  ebb  of  wretched- 
ness, was  occasioned  by  the  ambition  of 
one  man,  Alcibiades.  And  to  descend 
to  humble  life,  it  is  on  record  that  a 
selfish  fisherman  offered  up  most  fervent 
prayers  to*  Jupiter  for  a  hurricane,  to 


IV 

enable  him  to  catch  fish  with  more  ad- 
vantage. Another  person,  suffering  with 
cold,  is  said  to  have  set  a  house  on  fire, 
that  he  might  warm  his  fingers  at  the 
blaze. 

The  United  States  are  on  the  point 
of  exhibiting  scenes  somewhat  analo- 
gous. We  have  several  restless,  aspiring, 
ambitious  men,  who  for  the  mere  chance 
of  elevating  them*elves  above  the  rest 
of  the  community,  and  advancing  their 
own  paltry  personal  interests,  scruple 
not  to  jeopardize  the  peace,  the  happi- 
ness, and  the  liberty  of  an  entire  nation. 

By  an  unceasing  course  of  the  most 
artiul  and  deceptive  manoeuvres,  they 
have  produced  an  exasperation  in  the 
public  mind,  particularly  in  New  Eng- 
land, which  threatens  the  most  alarming 
consequences. 

The  grand  instrument  of  producing 
this  dangerous  excitement,  has  been  the 


restrictive  system  forced  upon  Congress 
by  the  lawless  proceedings  of  the  belli- 
gerents, and  the  clamours  of  the  mer- 
chants for  redress.  This  system  which 
grew  out  of  the  remonstrances  and  com- 
plaints of  the  commercial  people,  has 
been  in  the  most  unqualified  manner  as- 
cribed to  a  hostility  toward  New  Eng- 
land, and  a  determination  to  destroy 
commerce,  to  gratify  that  hostility. 

It  is  not  easy  to  find  a  higher  degree 
of  indecency  and  indecorum — or  of  dis- 
regard to  candour,  than  this  charge 
evinces.  Without  a  shadow  of  proof, 
or  even  without  the  smallest  plausibili- 
ty, this  allegation  has  been  assumed  as 
undeniably  proved.  Had  it  been  sus- 
ceptible of  judicial  proof,  and  been  fairly 
established  in  a  court  of  justice,  by  the 
depositions  of  ten  thousand  witnesses, 
it  could  not  have  been  more  confidently 
made  the  basis  of  an  endless,  unvarying 
round  of  the  most  calumnious  accusa- 
tions. A  2 


Vi 


Absurd,  and  ridiculous,  and  improba- 
ble as  these  accusations  are,  the  minds 
of  a  large  portion  of  our  citizens  are 
completely  poisoned  with  them,  and 
prepared  for  a  recourse  to  violent  and 
lawless  means,  to  procure  redress  of  the 
alleged  grievances. 

T!  ^  whole  of  these  accusations  may- 
be reduced  within  a  narrow  compass. 
They  are  built  on  this  monstrous  posi- 
tion-that the  farmer  who  has  produce 
for  sale,  may  be  tempted  to  shut  the 
market  against  it,  in  order  to  gratify  his 
malice  towards  the  wagoner  who  has 
been  accustomed  to  haul  it,  although  it 
thereby  falls  in  price  forty  or  fifty  per 
cent,  and  partly  perishes  on  his  hands. 
This  is  the  plain  unsophisticated  state 
of  the  case.  The  Massachusettensian 
who  makes  the  welkin  ring  with  his  bit- 
ter complaints  of,  and  envenomed  exe- 
crations against,  the  southern  states  for 
their  hostility  to  commerce,  is  very  lit- 


Vll 


tie  more  than  the  wagoner  who  hauls 
their  tobacco,  and  their  cotton,  and  their 
rice,  and  their  naval  stores  to  market. 

It  cannot  be  pretended  that  agricul- 
tural states  are  benefited  by  the  inter- 
ruption of  commerce.  Cullible,  and  cre- 
dulous, and  open  to  deception,  as  the 
age  is,  this  would  be  too  extravagant  a 
position  to  attempt  to  press  on  the  pub- 
lic. Nor  can  Judge  Lowell,  or  Timothy 
Pickering,  esq.  pretend  that  an  embar- 
go, which  prevents  a  citizen  of  South 
Carolina  from  sending  his  cotton  to 
market,  and  reduces  it  from  twenty  to 
twelve  cents,  is  not  as  highly  pernicious 
to  him  as  the  suspension  of  navigation 
is  to  the  ship-owner. 

It  follows,  therefore,  that  the  lamenta- 
ble delusion  that  prevails,  and  which 
threatens  consequences  awful  to  reflect 
upon,  is  absolutely  predicated  on  the 
false,  the  unnatural,  the  preposterous 
idea,   that  the   southern   states   injure 


Vlll 

themselves  in  their  most  vital  interests 
to  have  the  pleasure  of  injuring  the 
great  commercial  states,  as  they  are  ri- 
diculously styled  !  !  ! 

In  all  this  absurd  and  disgraceful 
clamour,  it  is  never  for  a  moment  con- 
sidered, that  the  mighty  state  of  New 
York,  the  powerful  state  of  Pennsylva- 
nia, and  Baltimore,  the  commercial  part 
of  Maryland,  have  almost  universally 
united  in  all  these  measures. 

No  man  will  pretend  to  compare  Mas- 
sachusetts to  New  York  or  Pennsylva- 
nia for  intrinsic  resources,  for  advance- 
ment in  population,  or  extent  of  terri- 
tory. 

Massachusetts  proper  increased  in 
population  in  twenty  years  only  83,257, 
about  20  per  cent. 

New  York,  in  the  same  space  of 
time,  increased  above  600,000,  which 
is  nearly  treble  her  former  numbers. 


IX 


Pennsylvania  increased  375,000,  or 
nearly  double. 

Massachusetts  depends  for  her  pros- 
perity in  a  great  degree  on  the  courtesy 
of  her  neighbours. 

New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Mary- 
land, rely  upon  their  own  internal  and 
intrinsic  resources. 

The  senseless  outcry  about  "  the 
commercial  states"  is  as  sickening  as  the 
croak  in  gs  of  a  raven.  New  Hampshire  a 
commercial  state  ! — Vermont  a  com- 
mercial state  !  Connecticut  and  Rhode 
Island  great  commercial  states!  That 
this  soi-disant  enlightened  age  should  be 
gulled  and  duped  and  deceived  into 
these  absurd  opinions,  is  most  lamenta- 
ble !  The  district  of  Columbia,  only  ten 
miles  square,  exported  in  1811,  18: 2, 
and  1813,  S  5,040,000 

During  the  same  years, 
these  four  "  great  com- 
mercial states"  exported 
only  6,601,000 


The  single  agricultural  state  of  South 
Carolina  exported  in  the  three  last  years 
fifty  per  cent,  more  than  the  above  four 
"  great  commercial  states v' 

South  Carolina,  9,489,000 

The  four  "  commercial 
states  !  !  !"  of  Vermont, 
New  Hampshire,  Connec- 
ticut, and  Rhode  Island,        6,601,000 

Sincerely  attached  to  the  federal  con- 
stitution— and  abhorring  convulsions 
and  tumults— I  have  endeavoured  to 
remove  the  errors  that  prevail  on  these 
topics,  pregnant  with  awful  consequen- 
ces. I  hope  I  have  not  misspent  my 
time.  I  trust  that  I  have  placed  the 
matter  in  such  a  point  of  view  as  to  lay 
at  rest  forever  the  arrogant  and  un- 
founded pretensions  of  New  England, 
which  have  been  made  the  instrument 
of  producing  so  much  mischief. 

These  Essays  have  appeared   in  a 


XI 


larger  work,  the  Olive  Branch,  which 
from  its  price,  will  be  limited  in  its  cir- 
culation. I  have  therefore  judged  it 
adviseable  to  print  them  thus  separate- 
ly, in  order  that  they  may  have  a  chance 
of  spreading  co-extcnsively  with  the 
errors  they  undertake  to  refute. 

A  PENNSYLVANIA]*. 

Nov.  8,  1814. 


CHAP.  I. 

Turbulence  of  Boston.  Boston  acts  on  Mas- 
sachusetts* Massachusetts  acts  on  the  rest 
of  New  England.  Jealousies  and  discord 
sedulously  excited*  Hateful  picture  of  the 
southern  states*  Commercial  and  anti- 
commercial  states.  Enquiry  into  the  claims 
of  New  England.  Tankeeism*  Moral  and 
religious  people*     Statistics, 

BOSTON,  the  metropolis  of  Massachu- 
setts, has  been,  for  a  long  period,  and  more 
particularly  since  the  close  of  the  reign  of 
federalism,  the  seat  of  discontent,  complaint, 
and  turbulence.  It  has  been  itself  restless 
and  uneasy — and  has  spread  restlessness 
and  uneasiness  in  every  direction.  It  has 
thwarted,  harrassed,  and  embarrassed  the 
general  government,  incomparably  more  than 
ail  the  rest  of  the  union  together. 

Whatever  difficulty  or  distress  has  arisen 
from  the  extraordinary  circumstances  of  the 
times — and  great  difficulty  and  distress  were 
inevitable — has  been  aggravated  and  mag- 


14 

nified  to  the  highest  degree,  for  the  purpose 
of  inflaming  the  public  passions.  The  lead- 
ers in  this  business  were  clamorous  when 
we  were  at  peace  in  1806  for  war  against 
England,  on  account  of  her  depredations  on 
their  commerce,  and  denounced,  in  the  most 
virulent  stile,  the  imbecility  and  cowardice 
of  the  government.  From  the  moment, 
when  war  was  declared,  they  have  clamour- 
ed for  peace,  and  reprobated  the  war  as  wick- 
ed, unjust,  and  unnecessary,  although  the 
causes  of  war  were  incomparably  greater  in 
1812  than  in  1806.  They  have  thrown  every 
difficulty  and  obstruction  in  the  way  of  the 
prosecution  of  the  war ;  and  reprobate  the 
administration  for  imbecility  in  carrying  it 
on.  They  have,  as  I  shall  prove,  brought 
the  government  to  the  very  verge  of  bank- 
ruptcy; and  reproach  it  for  its  necessities 
and  difficulties.  In  a  word,  all  their  move- 
ments have  had  and  still  have  but  one 
object,  to  enfeeble  and  distract  the  govern- 
ment— and  this  object  has  been  too  success- 
fully attained. 

With  a  population  of  only  33,000  inhabi- 
tants, and  with  a  commerce  quite  insignifi- 


15 

cant,  compared  with  New  York,  Philadel- 
phia, Baltimore,  or  Charleston,  Boston  has 
by  system  acquired  a  degree  of  influence 
beyond  all  proportion  greater  than  its  due 
share — greater  in  fact  than  the  above  four 
cities  combined — a  degree  of  influence  which 
has  been  exercised  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
become  dangerous  to  public  and  private 
prosperity  and  happiness,  and  to  the  peace 
and  to  the  permanence  of  the  union.  It  has 
brought  us  to  the  very  verge  of  its  dissolu- 
tion, with  the  awful  consequence — a  civil 
war.  The  movers  of  this  mighty  piece  of 
machinery — this  lever  that  puts  into  convul- 
sive motion  the  whole  of  our  political  fabric, 
are  few  in  number.— But  they  are  possessed 
of  inordinate  wealth — of  considerable  talents 
—great  energy — and  overgrown  influence. 
They  afford  a  signal  proof  how  much  a  few 
men  may  effect  by  energy  and  concert,  more 
especially  when  they  are  not  very  scrupu- 
lous about  the  means,  provided  the  ends  are 
Accomplished.  A  northern  confederacy  has 
been  their  grand  object  for  a  number  of 
years.  They  have  repeatedly  advocated  in 
the  public  prints  a  separation  of  the  states, 


16 

on  account  of  a  pretended  discordance  of 
views  and  interests  of  the  different  sections. 

To  sow  discord,  jealousy,  and  hostility 
between  the  different  parts  of  the  union, 
was  the  first  and  grand  step  in  their  career 
in  order  to  accomplish  their  favourite  object. 
In  fact,  without  this  efficient  instrument,  all 
their  efforts  would  have  been  utterly  una- 
vailing. It  would  have  been  impossible,  had 
the  honest  yeomanry  of  New  England  con- 
tinued to  regard  their  southern  fellow  citi- 
zens as  friends  and  brethren,  having  one 
common  interest  in  the  promotion  of  the 
general  welfare,  to  make  them  instruments 
in  the  hands  of  those  who  intended  to  em- 
ploy them  to  operate  the  unholy  work  of 
destroying  the  noble,  the  august,  the  splen- 
did fabric  of  our  union  and  unparalleled 
form  of  government. 

For  eighteen  years,  therefore*  the  most 
unceasing  endeavours  have  been  used  to 
poison  the  minds  of  the  people  of  New 
England  towards,  and  to  alienate  them  from, 
rheir  fellow  citizens  of  the  southern  states. 
T'he  people  of  the  latter  section  have  been 
pourtrayed  as  demons  incarnate,  and  desti- 


17 

tute  of  all  the  good  qualities  that  dignify 
or  adorn  human  nature — that  acquire  es- 
teem or  regard — that  entitle  to  respect  and 
veneration.  Nothing  can  exceed  the  viru- 
lence of  these  caricatures,  some  of  which 
would  have  suited  the  ferocious  inhabitants 
of  New  Zealand,  rather  than  a  civilized  or 
polished  nation. 

To  illustrate  and  remove  all  doubt  on 
this  subject,  I  subjoin  an  extract  from  a 
series  of  essays,  signed  M  Pelham,"  publish- 
ed Anno  1796,  in  the  Connecticut  Courant, 
and  said  to  be  the  production  of  some  of 
the  first  men  in  point  of  talent,  in  the  state 
of  Connecticut. 

"  Negroes  are,  in  all  respects,  except  in  regard 
"  to  life  and  death,  the  cattle  of  the  citizens  of  the 
**  southern  states.  If  they  were  good  for  food,  the 
"  probability  is,  that  even  the  power  of  destroying 
"  their  lives  would  be  enjoyed  by  their  owners,  as 
"fully  as  it  is  over  the  lives  of  their  cattle.  It 
"  cannot  be,  that  their  lavjs  prohibit  the  owjiers 
"from  killing  their  slaves,  because  those  slaves 
"  are  human  beings,  or  because  it  is  a  moral  evil 
"  to  destroy  them.  If  that  were  the  case,  how 
"  can  they  justify  their  being  treated,  in  aJl  other 
"  respects,  like  brutes  ?  for  it  is  in  this  point  of 
B  2 


18 

"  view  alone,  that  negroes  in  the  southern  states 
"  are  considered  in  fact  as  different  from  cattle. 
"  They  are  bought  and  sold — they  are  fed  or  kept 
"  hungry — they  are  clothed,  or  reduced  to  naked- 
••  ness — they  are  beaten,  turned  out  to  the  fury  of 
41  the  elements,  and  torn  from  their  dearest  con- 
l<  nections,  with  as  Little  remorse  as  if  they  were 
*l  beasts  of  the  field:* 


Never  was  there  a  more  infamous  or  un- 
founded caricature  than  this — never  one 
more  disgraceful  to  its  author.  Its  vile 
character  is  greatly  enhanced  by  the  consi- 
deration, that  a  large  portion  of  these  very 
negroes,  and  their  ancestors,  had  been  pur- 
chased, and  rent  from  their  homes  and 
families  by  New  Englanders,  who  were 
actually  at  that  moment,  and  long  after- 
wards, engaged  in  the  Slave  Trade. 

The  unholy  and  demoniac  spirit  that  in- 
spired the  writer  of  the  above  vile  libel,  has 
been,  from  that  hour  to  the  present,  inces- 
santly employed  to  excite  hostility  between 
the  different  sections  of  the  unioa.  To  such 
horrible  lengths  has  this  spirit  been  carried, 
that  many  paragraphs  have  occasionally  ap- 
peared in  the  Boston  papers,  intended  and 


19 

calculated  to  excite  the  negroes  of  the  south- 
ern states  to  rise  and  massacre  their  mas- 
ters. This  will  undouhtedly  appear  incre- 
dible to  the  reader.  It  is  nevertheless 
sacredly  true.  It  is  a  species  of  turpitude 
and  baseness  of  which  the  world  has  pro- 
duced few  examples. 

Thus  some  progress  was  made.  But  it 
was  inconsiderable.  While  the  yeomanry 
of  New  England  were  enriched  by  a  bene- 
ficial commerce  with  the  southern  states, 
they  did  not  feel  disposed  to  quarrel  with 
them  for  their  supposed  want  of  a  due 
degree  of  piety  or  morality. 

A  deeper  game  was  requisite  to  be  play- 
ed, or  all  the  pains  taken  so  far  would  have 
been  wholly  fruitless.  And  this  was  sedu- 
lously undertaken.  The  press  literally  groan- 
ed with  efforts  to  prove  five  points,  wholly 
destitute  of  foundation. 

First,  That  .New  England  was  exclusive- 
ly commercial. 

Secondly,  That  the  other  states  were 
almost,  and  those  south  of  the  Patowmac, 
wholly  agricultural. 

Thirdly,  That  there  is  a  natural  and  in- 


20 

evitable  hostility  between  commercial  and 
agricultural  states. 

Fourthly,  That  this  hostility  has  uniform- 
ly pervaded  the  whole  southern  section  of 
the  union.     And, 

Fifthly,  That  all  the  measures  of  congress 
were  dictated  by  this  hostility. 

I  do  not  assert  that  these  positions  were 
ever  laid  down  in  regular  form,  as  theses  to 
argue  upon.  But  I  do  aver,  that  they  form 
the  basis  of  three  fourths  of  all  the  essays, 
paragraphs,  squibs,  and  crackers,  that  have 
appeared  in  the  Boston  papers  against  the 
administration  for  many  years  past.  "  The 
Road  to  Ruin,"  ascribed  to  Judge  Lowell, 
now  before  me,  is  remarkable  for  its  viru- 
lence, its  acrimony,  its  intemperance,  and 
for  the  talents  of  the  writer.  He  undoubt- 
edly places  his  subject  in  the  strongest  point 
of  light  possible  for  such  a  subject.  But  if 
you  extract  from  his  essays,  the  petitio 
principii  of  these  positions,  all  the  rest  is  a 
mere  caput  mortuum — all  (i  sound  and 
fury."  On  these  topics  the  changes  are  rung 
in  endless  succession. 

Never  was  the  gutta  non  vi,  sed  scepe  ca- 


21 

dendo,  more  completely  verified.  These 
positions,  however  absurd,  however  extra- 
vagant, however  ridiculous  they  appear  in 
their  naked  form,  have,  by  dint  of  incessant 
repetition,  made  such  an  impression  upon 
the  minds  of  a  large  portion  of  the  people 
of  New  England,  that  they  are  as  thorough- 
ly convinced  of  their  truth,  as  of  any  problem 
in  Euclid. 

Boston  having  acted  upon  and  inflamed 
Massachusetts,  that  state  has  acted  upon, 
and  put  in  movement  the  rest  of  New  Eng- 
land : — and  thus  a  people  proverbially  or- 
derly, quiet,  sober,  and  rational,  have  been 
actually  so  highly  excited  as  to  be  ripe  for 
revolution,  and  ready  to  overturn  the  whole 
system  ef  social  order.  A  confederacy  has 
been  formed,  which,  as  I  have  stated,  and 
as  cannot  be  too  often  repeated,  promises 
fair  to  produce  a  convulsion — a  dissolution 
of  the  union — and  a  civil  war,  unless  the 
seduced  people  of  that  section  of  the  union 
can  be  recovered  from  the  fatal  delusion 
they  labour  under,  and  restored  to  their 
reason. 

I  shall  very  briefly,  and  without  much  at- 


22 

tention  to  order  or  regularity,  consider  these 
positions.  They  are  not  entitled  to  a  serious 
refutation,  but  merely  as  they  have  been 
made  the  instruments  of  producing  so  much 
mischief. 

Before  I  touch  upon  the  commercial 
points,  I  shall  offer  a  few  observations  on 
the  high  and  exalted  pretensions  of  New 
England,  to  superior  morality  and  religion 
over  the  rest  of  the  union.  There  has  not 
been,  it  is  true,  quite  so  much  parade  with 
these  exclusive  claims  as  on  the  subject  of 
commerce.  Perhaps  the  reason  is,  that  there 
was  no  political  purpose  to  be  answered  by 
them.  But  that  the  people  of  New  England 
are  in  general  thoroughly  persuaded  that 
they  very  far  excel  the  rest  of  the  union  in 
both  religion  and  morals,  no  man  who  has 
been  conversant  with  them  can  deny.  This 
is  a  folly  which  is  too  general  all  over  the 
world  :  but  no  where  more  prevalent,  or  to 
greacer  extent,  than  in  that  section  of  the 
union.  To  pretend  to  institute  a  compari- 
son between  the  religion  and  morals  of  the 
people  of  Boston  and  those  of  Philadelphia, 
New  York,  or  Baltimore,  would  be  regard- 


23 

cd  as  equally  extravagant  and  absurd,  with 
a  comparison  of  the  gambols  of  a  cow  to 
the  sprightly  and  elegant  curvetings  of  an 
Arabian  courser.  The  Rev.  Jedediah  Morse 
has  in  some  degree  devoted  his  geography 
to,  and  disgraced  it  by,  the  perpetuation  of 
this  vile  prejudice.  Almost  every  page  that 
respects  his  own  section  of  the  union  is 
fraught  with  encomium.  He  colours  with 
the  flattering  tints  of  a  partial  and  enamour- 
ed friend.  But  when  once  he  passes  the 
Patowmac,  what  a  hideous  reverse ! — Al- 
most every  thing  is  there  frightful  carica- 
ture. Society  is  at  a  low  and  melancholy 
ebb,  and  all  the  sombre  tints  are  brought 
forward  to  elevate,  by  the  contrast,  his  fa- 
vourite Elysium,  New  England.  He  dips 
his  pen  in  gall  when  he  has  to  pourtray  the 
manners,  or  habits,  or  religion  of  Virginia 
or  Maryland,  or  either  of  the  Carolinas  or 
Georgia. 

I  should  enter  far  into  the  consideration 
of  this  procedure  of  Mr.  Morse,  but  that  it 
has  been  ably  discussed  by  a  superior  pen. 
The  editor  of  the  Port  Folio,  himself  a  de- 
cided federalist,  reprobates,  and  pronounces 


24 

a  just  and  eternal  condemnation  on  the  illi- 
berality  of  making  a  school,  or  indeed  any 
other  book,  a  vehicle  to  excite  animosities 
between  fellow  citizens  of  difFerent  portions 
of  the  same  nation. 

The  New  England  character  for  morality 
has  been  various  at  various  times.  It  was 
not  long  since  at  a  very  low  ebb  indeed.  It 
is  within  the  memory  of  those  over  whose 
chins  no  razor  has  ever  mowed  a  harvest, 
that  Yankee  and  sharper  were  nearly  synoni- 
mous.  And  this  was  not  among  the  low 
and  illiberal,  the  base  and  the  vulgar.  It 
pervaded  all  ranks  of  society.  In  the  mid- 
dle and  southern  states  traders  were  univer- 
sally very  much  on  their  guard  against 
Yankee  tricks  when  dealing  with  New  Eng- 
enders. 

They  now  arrogate  to  themselves,  (and, 
for  party  purposes,  their  claims  are  some- 
times admitted  by  their  political  friends,) 
to  be,  as  I  have  stated,  a  superior  order  to 
their  fellow  citizens.  They  look  down  on 
those  to  the  southward  with  as  much  con- 
tempt, and  with  as  much  foundation  too, 
as  the  Pharisee  of  old  did  on  the  despised 
publican. 


25 

Both  of  these  views  are  grossly  errone- 
ous. They  never  were  so  vile  as  they  were 
formerly  believed.  They  had,  it  is  true, 
many  worthless  miscreants  among  them, 
who,  on  their  migration  to  the  other  states, 
were  guiltv  of  base  tricks,  which,  by  an  illi- 
berally disgraceful  to  our  species,  but 
nevertheless  very  common,  were  charged  to 
the  account  of  the  entire  people  of  New 
England,  and  brought  them  under  a  most 
undeserved  odium. 

I  feel  a  pride  and  pleasure  in  doing  jus- 
tice to  the  New  England  yeomanry.  They 
will  not  suffer  on  a  comparison  with  the 
same  class  of  men  in  any  part  of  the  world. 
They  are  upright,  sober,  orderly,  and  regu- 
lar— shrewd,  intelligent,  and  well  informed 
— and  I  believe  there  is  not  a  greater  de- 
gree of  genuine  native  urbanity  among  the 
yeomanry  of  any  country  under  the  canopy 
of  heaven.  And  it  is  lamentable  and  unac- 
countable how  they  have  allowed  themselves 
to  be  so  egregiously  duped  as  they  have 
been.  I  have  known  them  long,  and  my 
respect  for  them  has  gradually  increased  in 
proportion  as  my  knowledge  of  them  ex- 


tended.  But  I  shall  never  admit  any  exclu- 
sive claim  to  the  virtues  which  I  know  they 
possess.  And  I  have  no  hesitation  in  averr- 
ing, that  although  Boston,  or  Hartford,  or 
Newhaven,  may  exhibit  rather  more  ap- 
pearance of  religion  and  piety,  than  New 
York,  or  Philadelphia,  or  Baltimore,  yet  the. 
latter  cities  possess  as  much  of  the  reality. 
It  would  astonish  and  frighten  many  of  the 
pious  people  here  to  be  informed — but  they 
may  nevertheless  rely  upon  the  information 
as  indubitably  true — that  a  large  proportion 
of  the  clergy  in  the  town  of  Boston,  are  ab- 
solute Unitarians ;  and  scout  the  idea  of  the 
divinity  of  Jesus  Christ  as  completely  and 
explicitly  as  ever  Dr.  Priestley  did.  This 
is  a  digression.  I  did  not  intend  to  intro- 
duce it.  But  aince  it  is  here,  let  it  remain. 
And  let  me  add,  that  the  present  principal 
of  Harvard  College  was  known  to  be  of  that 
persuasion,  when  he  was  elected.  This  fact 
establishes  the  very  great  extent  and  preva- 
lence of  the  doctrine. 

The  high  and  sounding  pretensions  of 
New  England  on  the  subject  of  commerce 
have  been  almost  universally  admitted.  No 


27 

person  has  ever  thought  it  worth  while  to 
examine  into  the  actual  state  of  the  facts. 
It  has  been  presumed,  that,  in  a  matter 
where  falsehood  and  deception  were  so 
easily  detected,  such  confident  assertions 
would  not  be  made,  unless  they7  rested  on 
a  strong  foundation.  And  in  drawing  the 
line  of  demarcation  between  New  England 
and  the  rest  of  the  union,  in  the  minds  of  the 
mass  of  the  community,  all  to  the  north  and 
east  of  the  line  was  regarded  as  devoted  to 
commerce — all  to  tne  uth  and  west,  to 
agriculture. 

It  is  hardly  pessible  to  conceive  a  greater 
mistake.  The  reader  will  be  astonished  at 
the  view  I  shall  lay  before  him.  1  have  been 
inexpressibly  surprised  myself,  and  even  now 
can  hardly  credit  my  own  statements.  They 
are  nevertheless  indisputable. 

I  have  before  me  a  regular  set  of  lists  of 
the  exports  of  the  United  States  for  ten 
years,  from  1791  to  1800  inclusive,  from 
which  I  submit  a  few  tables  for  the  gratifi- 
cation of  the  reader.  To  save  trouble  in  the 
addition,  here  and  in  all  the  other  tables,  I 
have  substituted  cyphers  for  the  three  last 


28 

figures  in  each  item.  This  cannot  materially 
affect  the  calculation  : — 

Exports  of  foreign  and  domestic  articles  for 
five  years,  from  1791  to  1795  inclusive^ 
from  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire, 
Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  Nezv  York, 
Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North 
and  South  Carolina^  and  Georgia. 


Massachusetts. 

New  Hampshire. 

1791 2,519,000  dolls. 

142,000  dolls 

1792 2,888,000 

181,000 

1793 3,755,000 

198.000 

1794 5,292,000 

1 53, 00U 

1795 7,177,000 

229,000 

21,631,000 

903,000 

Rhode  Island. 

Connecticut. 

1791 470,000 

710,000 

1792 698,000 

879,000 

1793 616,000 

770,000 

1794 954,000 

812,000 

1795 1,222,000 

819,000 

3,960,000  3,990,000 


29 


New  York. 


1791- 

1792- 
1793- 
1794- 


2,505,000 
2,535,000 
2,932,000 
5,442,000 


1795 10,304,000 


2,229,000 


Pennsylvania. 

3,436,000 
3,820,000 
C,»58,O0O 
6,643,000 
11,538,000 


23,718,000 

32,395,000 

Maryland. 

Virginia. 

1791 2,239,000 

3,131,000 

1792 2,623,000 

3,552,000 

1793 3,665,000 

2,987,000 

1794 5,686,000 

3,321,000 

1795 5,811,000 

3,490,000 

20,024,000 

16,481,000 

North  Carolina. 

South  Carolina 

1791 524,000 

2,693,000 

1792 527,000 

2,428,000 

1793 365,000 

3,191,000 

1  TOdi            *?°1  OOO 

3,867,000 

1795 492,000 

5,998,000 

18,177,00© 


30 

Georgia. 

1791 491,000 

1792 459,000 

1793 520,000 

1794 263,000 

1795 695,000 


2,428,000 
When,  my  dear  reader,  you  have  tho- 
roughly examined  these  tables,  pronounce 
sentence  on  the  exclusive  claims  of  New- 
England  to  commerce.  It  appears  that  the 
"  great  commercial  state  of  Massachusetts" 
exported  for  five  years  of  undisturbed  peace 
and  prosperity,  during  the  administration  of 
General  Washington,  but  17  percent,  more 
than  South  Carolina — 26  per  cent,  more 
than  Virginia — 8  per  cent,  more  than  Ma- 
ryland— 10  per  cent,  less  than  New  Tork — 
and  33  per  cent,  less  than  Pennsylvania! 

The  whole  exports  of  the  United  States 
for  these  five  years,  were 

1791 19,012,000  Dollars. 

1792 20,753,000 

1793 26,109,000 

1794 33,026,000 

1795 47,,,89)000 

146,889,000 


31 


RESULTS.  I. 

The  exports  from  New  England  for  this 
period,  were 

Vermont,  000,000 

New  Hampshire,  903,000 

Rhode  Island,  3,960,000 

Connecticut,  3,990,OuO 

Massachusetts,  21,63 1, GOO 


30,484,000 
II. 
North  Carolina  and  Georgia  exported 
each  above  one  hundred  per  cent,  more  than 
New  Hampshire — and,  united,  nearly  as 
much  as  New  Hampshire  and  Rhode  Island. 
Those  two  states  exported  about  half  as 
much  as  all  New  England,  Massachusetts 
excepted. 

in. 
Maryland  exported  nearly  as  much  as 
"  the  mighty  state  of  Massachusetts,"  the 
metropolis  of  which  has  at  all  times  affect- 
ed to  be  the  commercial  dictatress  of  the 
United  States. 

iv. 
Virginia  exported  nearly  one  hundred  per 
cent,  more  than  all  New  England,  Massa- 
chusetts excepted. 


32 


V. 

Three  southern  states  exported  eighty  per 
cent,  more  than  all  New  England- 
Maryland,  20,024,000 
Virginia,                16,401,000 
South  Carolina,    18,177,000 

54,682,000 

New  England,  30,484,000 

And  it  appears,  that  the  exports  of  New 
England,  for  these  five  years,  were  only 
about  a  fifth  part  of  the  aggregate  exports 
of  the  nation. 

I  now  take  the  second  period  of  five 
years,  and  submit  to  the  reader  the  fair  result. 

Exports  for  five  years  from  1796  to  1800, 
of  foreign  and  domestic  productions  from 
Vermont,  New  Hampshire^  Rhode  Island, 
Connecticut^  &?c. 

Vermont.  New  Hampshire. 

1796 378,000 

1797 275,000 

1798 361,000 

1799 361,000 

1800 57,000  431,000 


57,000  1,806,000 


S3 


Rhode  Island. 


1796 1,559,000 

1797 975,000 

1798 947.000 

1799 1,055,000 

1800 1,322,000 


5,888,000 


Massachusetts. 

1796 9,499,000 

1797 7,502  000 

1798 8,639,000 

1799 11,421.000 

1800 11,326,000 


Connecticut. 

1,452,000 
814,000 
763/00 

1,055  000 
1,322.000 


New  York. 

12,208  000 
13  nv -8,000 
14.3-: 0.000 
lo,  7 19,000 
14,045  000 


48,387,000  72,580,000 


Pennsylvania. 

1796 17,513,000 

1797 1  1,444,000 

1798 8,915,000 

1799 12,431,000 

1800 11)949,000 


Maryland. 

9,201,000 
9,811,000 

12,746,000 
16,299,000 
12,264,000 


62,252,000  60,321,000 


H 

Virginia.  South  Carolina. 

1796 5,268,000  7,620,000 

1797 4,908-000  6,949,000 

1798 6,113,000  6,994,000 

1799 6,609,000  8,729,000 

1800 4,430,000  10,668,000 


27,328,000  40,960,000 

Georgia. 


1796 

-  950,000 

1797 

-  644,000 

1798 

.  961,000 

1799 

-1,396,000 

1800 

-2,174,000 

6,125.000 

The  whole  value  of  the  exports  of  the 
United  States  for  these  five  years,  was — 


1796— 

—66,863,000 

1797— 

— 51,195,000 

1798— 

—61,143,000 

1799— 

—78,665,000 

1800— 

—70,971,000 

328,837,000 

35 

The  value  of  the  exports  of  Vermont, 
New  Hampshire,  Rhode  Island  and  Con- 
necticut, was 

Vermont,  57,000  Dollars. 

New  Hampshire,  1,806,000 

Rhode  Island,  5,886,000 

Connecticut,  5,406,000 


13,155,000 

Which  added  to  Massachusetts,    48,387,000 


make— 61,542,000 
RESULT   I. 

The  whole  of  the  "  five  homogeneous  New 
England  States,"  which  have  so  long  arro- 
gated to  themselves  the  character  of  exclu- 
sively commercial,  for  the  above  period,  did 
not  export  19  per  cent,  of  the  total  value 
of  the  exports  of  the  union. 

ii. 

South  Carolina  exported  of  native  pro- 
ductions in  that  period,  nearly  seven  eighths 
of  the  amount  exported  by  Massachusetts  of 
native  and  foreign;  and  more  than  three  times 
<ts  much  as  xvas  exported  by  Vermont,  New 


36 

Hampshire,  Rhode  Island,  and  Connecticut, 
of  bcih  descriptions. 

in. 
It  farther  appears,  that  during  these  five 
years,  under  the  federal  reign,  before  the 
introduction  of  embargoes,,  or  non-inter- 
course, the  exports  of  the  single  port  of 
Baltimore  were  25 per  cent  more  than  those 
of  la^'.a:h<LvciiS ;  neaihj  as  great  as  those 
of  all  New  England;  y.vJ  above  four  hundred 
per  cent  more  than  the  (S  great  commercial 
states"  Vcmont,  New  Hampshire,  Rhode 
Island,  and  Connecticut, 

IV. 

Georgia  alon?  exported  nearly  half  as  much 
as  jour  of  the  New  England  states,  Vermont, 
New  Hampshire,  Rhode  Island,  and  Con- 
necticut* 

v. 

South  Carolina  and  Georgia  exported 
nearly  as  much  as  Massachusetts. 

VI. 

New  York  exported  fifty  per  cent  more 
than  Massachusetts. 

VII. 

Pennsylvania  exported  above  25  per  cent 


37 

more  than  Massachusetts,   and  almost  as 
much  as  all  New  England. 

VIII. 

Georgia  exported  more  than  either  Rhode 
Island  or  Connecticut,  and  more  than  three 
times  as  much  as  New  Hampshire. 

IX. 

South  Carolina  exported  nearly  eight 
times  as  much  as  Rhode  Island  or  Con- 
necticut. 

x. 
Maryland    exported     more    than    five 
times  as  much  as  Rhode  Island  and  Con- 
necticut. 

Now,  reader,  let  me  commune  with  you 
For  a  few  minutes.  Examine  these  tables 
thoroughly.  Make  your  comparisons.  Draw 
your  inferences.  Answer  me  one  simple 
question.  Are  you  not  petrified  with  asto- 
nishment at  the  presumption,  the  folly,  the 
ignorance,  that  have  led  to  those  arrogant 
pretensions  of  New  England  on  the  ground 
of  commerce  ?  and  at  the  supineness,  that 
led  the  nation  to  acquiesce  in  them  I  If  you 
are  not,  vqu  are  proof  against  the  petrifying 
powers  of  the  Gorgon's  head.  Nothing  that 


38 

this  world  affords  can  in  that  case  astonish 
you.  You  may  bid  defiance  to  whatever 
can  be  produced  of  unfounded,  daring,  un- 
blushing pretensions.  What !  New  England 
the  exclusive  arbitress  of  commerce,  solely 
interested  in  its  preservation,  solely  occupi- 
ed in  guarding  it  from  invasion  by  the 
sacrilegious  hands  of  southern  despots,  while 
the  single  port  of  Baltimore  possesses  nearly 
as  much  commerce  as  all  the  u  homogene- 
ous New  England  states  collectively!" 

I  have  been  unable  to  procure  the  lists 
from  1801  to  1810  inclusive.  I  have  before 
me  those  for  1811,  12,  and  13,  from  which 
I  submit  the  following  statements : 

Exports  from  the  United  States  for  three 
years,  1811,  1812,  and  1813. 


New  Hampshire. 

Foreign. 

Domestic 

J81 1—53,000 

315,000 

1812—  9,000 

194,000 

1813 — 

29,000 

62,000 


538,000 


39 

Massachusetts. 

Foreign. 

Domestic, 

1811—5,192,000 

6,042,000 

1812—2,648,000 

3,095,000 

1813 —    294,000 

1,513,000 

8,134,000 

11,550,000 

Vermont, 

Foreign. 

Domestic. 

1811— 538..000 

32,000 

1812—131,000 

7,000 

1 8 1 3 — 

669,000 

39,000 

Rhode  Island. 

Foreign. 

Domestic. 

1811—626,000 

944,000 

1812—150.000 

604,000 

1813—      2,000 

234,000 

773,000 

1,782,000 

Connecticut. 

Foreign. 

Domestic. 

1311—38,000 

994,000 

1812— 

720,000 

1^13 —  5,000 

968,000 

!,000 


2,682,000 


40 

New  Torh. 

Foreign. 

Domestic. 

161 1 — 

-3^518,000 

8,747,000 

181 2 — 

-2,358000 

6,603,000 

1 8  13 — 

-1,124.000 

7,060.990 

6,997,000 

22,410,000 

Pennsylvania 

Foreign. 

Domestic. 

1811- 

-3,865.000 

5,694,000 

1812- 

-1,313,000 

4,660,000 

1813- 

-    327,000 

3,249  000 

5,505,000 

13,603,000 

Maryland. 

Foreign. 

Domestic. 

1811- 

-2,280,000 

4.553  000 

1812- 

-1,929,000 

3,956,000 

1813- 

-1,005,000 

2.782.000 

5,754,000 

11,291,000 

Virginia* 

Foreign. 

Domestic. 

1811- 

—  23,000 

4,798,000 

1812. 

—   17,000 

2,983,000 

1913- 

—         000 

1,819.000 

41,000  9,600,000 


41 

South  Carolina* 
Foreign.  Domestic. 

181  1—210,000       4,650,000 

1812—  11,000        2.024,000 

1813 —  53000        2.815,000 


263,225       9,489,000 

North  Carolina. 

Foreign.  Domestic. 

181 1—4,000  793.000 

1812—  489,000 

1813—1.000  795,000 


5,000  2,077,000 

District  of  Columbia. 

Foreign.  Domestic. 

1811—   2,000  2,060,000 

1812—12,000  1,593  000 

1813 —  1,387,000 


1 4,000 

5,040,000 

New  Orleans, 

Foreign. 
1811—148,000 

1812 —  34,000 

1813—  31,000 

Domestic. 

2,501,000 
1,025,000 
1,013,000 

213,000  4,527,000 

D  2 


42 

Georgia. 

Domestic. 
1811—2,557,000 
1812 — 1,066.000 
1813—1,094,000 


4,717,000 


RESULTS  FOR    THESE    FIVE    YEARS,    OF  EX- 
FORTS  OF    DOMESTIC  PRODUCTIONS. 
I. 

Massachusetts  did  not  export  much  more 
than  half  as  much  as  New  York ;  and  about 
twenty  per  cent,  more  than  Virginia  or 
South  Carolina. 

ii. 

Virginia  and  South  Carolina  exported 
each  fifty  per  cent,  more  than  New  Hamp- 
shire, Vermont,  Rhode  Island,  and  Connec- 
ticut united. 

in. 

The  District  of  Columbia,  Georgia,  and 
New  Orleans,  united,  exported  fifty  per 
cent,  more  than  the  above  four  New  Eng-« 
land  states. 


43 


IV. 

Pennsylvania  exported  about  twenty  per 
cent  more  than  Massachusetts,  and  above 
one  hundred  per  cent,  more  than  the  other 
four  "homogeneous  states"  of  New  Eng- 
land. 

r. 

The  district  of  Columbia  exported  within 
twenty-Jive  per  cent,  as  much  as  all  Nexo 
England,  Massachusetts  excepted — three 
times  as  much  as  Rhode  Island*  and  nearly 
twice  as  much  as  Connecticut. 

VI. 

Virginia  and  South  Carolina,  united,  ex- 
ported above  fifty  per  cent,  more  than  Mas- 
sachusetts, and  three  times  as  much  as  all 
the  rest  of  New  England. 

VII. 

Maryland  exported  very  nearly  as  much 
as  the  "great  commercial  state  of  Massa- 
chusetts"— above  four  times  as  much  as 
Connecticut — above  six  times  as  much  as 
Rhode  Island — above  twenty  times  as  much 
as  New  Hampshire — and  nearly  twice  as 
much  as  all  New  England,  Massachusetts 
excepted. 


44 


VIII. 

North  Carolina  exported  almost  twice  as 
much  as  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont ; 
twenty  per  cent,  more  than  Rhode  Island ; 
and  within  twenty-five  per  cent,  as  much  as 
Connecticut. 

IX. 

Georgia  exported  more  than  Connecticut 
and  Rhode  Island ;  seven  times  as  much  as 
Vermont ;  and  nine  times  as  much  as  New 
Hampshire. 

This  view  of  the  subject  is  equally  de- 
structive with  the  former,  of  the  high  pre- 
tensions of  Massachusetts,  and  of  New  Eng- 
land generally,  to  be  preeminently  commer- 
cial. 

I  am  tired  of  this  exposure.  I  sicken  for 
the  honour  of  the  human  species.  What 
idea  must  the  world  form  of  the  arrogance 
of  the  pretensions  on  the  one  side — and,  on 
the  other,  of  the  folly  and  weakness  of  the 
rest  of  the  union  to  have  so  long  suffered 
them  to  pass  without  exposure  to  detection ! 

The  naked  fact  is,  that  New  England, 
not  satisfied  with  deriving  all  the  benefits 


45 

iVom  the  southern  states,  that  she  would 
from  so  many  wealthy  colonies — with  mak- 
ing princely  fortunes  by  the  carriage  and 
exportation  of  their  bulky  and  valuable  pro- 
ductions— with  supplying  them  with  her 
own  manufactures,  and  the  manufactures 
and  productions  of  Europe,  and  the  East 
and  West  Indies,  to  an  enormous  amount, 
and  at  an  immense  profit,  has  uniformly 
treated  them  with  outrage,  insult,  and  in- 
jury— and  now,  hostile  to  her  vital  interests, 
is  courting  her  own  destruction,  by  allowing 
a  few  restless,  turbulent  demagogues  to  lead 
her  blindfolded  to  a  separation,  which  is 
pregnant  with  certain  ruin  to  New  England* 
Whenever  that  event  takes  place,  she  sinks  to 
her  native  insignificance. 

If  a  separation  were  desirable  to  any  sec- 
tion of  the  Union,  it  would  be  to  the  middle 
and  southern  states,  particularly  the  latter, 
who  have  been  so  long  cursed  with  the  com- 
plaints, the  restlessness,  the  turbulence,  and 
the  ingratitude  of  New  England,  that  their 
patience  has  been  taxed  almost  beyond  en- 
durance. "  Jeshurun  waxed  fat,  and  kick- 
€&"    And  he  will  be  severely  punished  for 


46 

his  kicking,  in  the  event  of  a  dissolution  of 
the  Union, 

It  ought  to  be  observed,  that  a  very  large 
portion  of  the  exports  from  New  England, 
consists  in  the  productions  of  the  southern 
states,  first  transported  to  Boston  and  other 
ports,  coastwise.  So  that  even  the  compari- 
sons I  have  made,  which  are  so  mortal  to 
the  pretensions  of  New  England,  place  her 
on  far  better  ground  than  she  really  de- 
serves. For  example — Suppose  among  the 
exports  of  New  England,  a  million  of  dol- 
lars' worth  of  cotton,  half  a  million  of  dol- 
lars' worth  of  flour,  half  a  million  of  dollars' 
worth  of  naval  stores,  all  drawn  from  the 
southern  or  middle  states — she  appears  two 
millions  of  dollars  stronger  on  the  face  of 
the  argument,  than  she  is  in  fact  and  in 
truth.  And  there  is  no  doubt  that  this  is 
the  case  to  a  vast  extent. 

Here  a  new  and  most  important  view  of 
this  subject  presents  itself,  which  had  nearly 
escaped  me.  These  tables  refer  wholly  to 
foreign  trade.  They  are  entirely  silent  on 
the  coasting  trade.  This  makes  a  total  re«- 
volution  in  the  state  of  the  affair,  and  sinks 


47 

the  commercial  consequence  of  New  Eng- 
land still  lower  than  the  views  already  taken. 
All  the  enormous  amounts  of  the  produc- 
tions of  the  southern  states  exported,  as  I 
have  stated  above,  coastwise  to  New  Eng- 
land, and  thence  shipped  for  Europe,  which 
swell  the  New  England  items  of  the  tables, 
are,  in  forming  a  correct  estimate,  not  only 
to  be  deducted  from  New  England,  but  added 
to  the  exports  of  the  southern  states ,  to  which 
they  respectively  belong. 

To  inflame  the  popular  prejudices  of  the 
New  England  yeomanry,  to  lead  them  on  to 
that  gulf  of  perdition,  a  separation  of  the 
states,  there  has  been  an  awful  outcry  raised 
on  the  subject  of  the  enormous  amount  of 
duties  paid  by  New  England,  and  the  in- 
significant sums  paid  by  the  southern  and 
western  states,  thereby  inferring  the  injus- 
tice and  inequality  of  the  union,  and  its  op- 
pressive operation  upon  New  England.  This 
item  is,  if  possible,  more  fallacious  than  the 
rest.  The  disadvantage  is  all  on  the  other 
side.  New  England  imports  for  Virginia, 
and  the  other  states,  from  the  East  and  West 
Indies,  and  from  Europe.     She  has,  it  is 


48 

true,  to  bond  or  pay  the  duties  in  the  first 
instance.  This  makes  her  appear  to  vast 
advantage,  as  respects  the  payment  of  du- 
ties. But  she  adds  them  to  the  first  cost? 
and  charges  a  profit  on  them  as  well  as  on 
the  cost,  when  she  sends  the  goods  to  the 
south.  Probably  three  fourths  of  all  her 
imports  are  for  the  consumption  of  the  other 
states.  She  thus  levies  taxes  not  only  on 
Maryland,  Virginia,  North  and  South  Caro- 
lina, and  Georgia,  but  even  on  Pennsylva- 
nia;— for  strange  as  it  may  seem,  it  is 
nevertheless  true,  that  notwithstanding  the 
immense  wealth,  the  ardent  enterprize,  and 
the  great  commercial  advantages  of  Phila- 
delphia, immoderate  quantities  of  East  In- 
dia and  Chinese  goods  are  sent  from  Bos- 
ton, Salem,  and  other  eastern  ports,  for  sale 
here. 

But  even,  independent  of  the  importation 
of  New  England  for  the  southern  states,  the 
argument  is  unfairly  stated.  If  New  Eng- 
land actually  consumed  all  the  foreign  arti- 
cles she  imports,  the  duties  she  pays  are  not 
so  much  beyond  those  paid  even  by  the 
southern  states,  as  to  warrant  her  holding 


49 

the  high  and  commanding  tone  she  has  at 
ways  assumed. 

Net  amount  of  duties  paid  by  New  Hamp' 
shire  and  Vermont  for  twenty  years. 


New  Hampshire. 
179  —  53,000 

1792—  41,000 

1793—  44,000 

1794 —  38  000 

1795—  44,000 

1796—  53,000 

1797—  27,000 

1798—  72,000 

1799—  99,000 
1800—142,000 
1801—133,000 
1802—119,000 
1803—122,600 
1804— 108,000 
1805—109,000 
1806—117,000 

1807—  99,000 

1808—  19,000 

1809—  39,000 

1810—  53,000 

Vermont. 

1,000 

1,000 

1,000 
2,000 
2,000 

1,000 

9,000 
9,000 

1,531,000 

E 

26,000 

50 


Net  amount  of  duties  paid  by  Connecticut 
and  Rhode  Inland. 


Connecticut. 

Rhode  "Island. 

1791—206,000 

146,000 

1792—142,000 

46,000 

1793—154,000 

133,000 

1794—171,000 

89,000 

1795—155,000 

244,000 

1796—141,000 

137,000 

1797—115,000 

276,000 

1798—127,000 

104,000 

1799—289,000 

260,000 

1800—169,000 

393,000 

1801—328,000 

284,000 

1802—262,000 

178,000 

1803—301,000 

366,000 

1804—348,000 

421,000 

1805—354,000 

349,000 

1806—325,000 

361,000 

1807—314,000 

123,000 

1808—197,000 

270,000 

1809—129,000 

35.000 

1810—167,000 

435,000 

4,394,000 

4,646,000 

51 


Net  amount  of  duties  paid  in  Maryland,  Vir- 
ginia, and  South  Carolina^  for  twenty 
years. 


Maryland. 

Virginia.  South  Carolina. 

1791 —  641,000 

851,000 

538,000 

1792—  449.000 

474,000 

360,000 

1793—  869,000 

388,000 

359,000 

1794—  795,000 

389,000  - 

651,000 

1795—  523,000 

396,000 

710,000 

1796—  761.000 

598,000 

56.000 

1797—1,145,000 

606,000 

700,000 

1798—  885,000 

629,000 

239,000 

1799—1,161,000 

896,000 

858,000 

1800—  623,000 

644,000 

1,159,000 

1801—1,001,000 

746,000 

1,002,000 

1802^—  634,000 

689,000 

280,000 

1803—  936,000 

713,000 

646,000 

1804—1,538,000 

902,000 

718,000' 

1805—1,130,000 

805,000 

843.000 

1806—1,446,000 

620,000 

871,000 

1807—1,633,000 

506,000 

735,000 

1808—  588,000 

1  10,000 

225,000 

1809 —  155,000 

257,000 

377,000 

1810—  928,000 

461,000 

567,000 

817,841,000  §11,580,000     S  11,894,000 


52 


Net  amount  of  duties  paid  by  North  Caroli- 
na and  Georgia,  for  twenty  years. 


North  Carolina. 

Georgia. 

1791—115,000 

91,000 

1792—  78,000 

53,000 

1793—  63,000 

35,000 

1794—  78,000 

87,000 

1795—  99,000 

54,000 

1796—  68,000 

31,000 

1797—105,000 

62.00Q 

1798—120,000 
1/99—154,000 
1800—126,000 

1801—125,000 

663,000 

1802—252,000 

211,000 

1803—159,000 

18~,000 

1804—186.000 

180,000 

1805—165,000 

95,000 

1806— 202,000 

183,000 

1807—196,000 

489,000 

1808—  16,000 

35,000 

1809—  65,000 

6,000 

1810—  58.000 

134,000 

2,420,000  2,591,000 


53 


Net  amount  of  duties  paid  in  Massachusetts , 

New  Tork  and  Pennsylvania,  for  txventy 
years. 

Massachusetts.  New  York.  Pennsylvania, 

1791 —  977,000  1.364,000  1,491,000 

1792—  678,000  1,169,000  .  1,096,000 

1793 —  950,000  1,195,000  1,804,000 
1794—1,004,000  1,860,000  1,473,000 
1795— 1,4 1-5,000  2,000,000  2,271,000 
1756—1,334,000  2,158,000  2,012.000 
1797—1,372,000  2,059,000  1,743,000 
1798—1,168,000  1,743,000  1,029,000 
1799 — 1,607,000  2,373,000  1,259,000 
1800 — 1,974,000  2,741,000  1,350,000 
1801 — 2,929,000  3,810,000  2,123,000 
1802 — 1.525,000  2,490,000  1,410,000 
1803—2,490,000  3,524,000  1,565,000 
1804 — 3,630,000  3,872,000  2,609,000 
1805 — 3,308,000  4,882,000  2,300,000 
1806—3,524,000  4,875,000  3,017,000 
1807 — 3,576,000  4,926,000  3,162,000 
1808 — 1,184,000  2,764,000  1,647,000 
1809 — 1,384,000  2,981,000  1,405,000 
1810—2,774,000  4,419,000  2,439,000 


8  38,443,000  B  57,505,000  £  37,295,000 
E  2 


54 

These  details  still  further  caryy  death  and 
destruction  to  all  the  vaunted  pre-eminence 
of  New  England.  She  might  for  an  age 
have  continued  to  claim,  and  the  rest  of  the 
union  might  have  admitted,  a  signal  and 
towering  superiority  over  her  sister  states, 
had  she  not  on  that  basis  raised  a  disorga- 
nizing and  Jacobinical  plan  to  revolutionize 
the  country,  and  to  involve  us  in  all  the  hor- 
rors of  anarchy.  This  rendered  it  a  duty 
to  investigate  the  subject  thoroughly,  for 
the  purpose  of  preventing  the  meditated 
mischief.  When  I  began,  I  had  not  the 
most  distant  anticipation  of  such  a  result  as 
appears.  And  I  trust  it  will  be  acknow- 
ledged that  the  fallacy  of  her  claims  has 
been  completely  and  satisfactorily  and  irre- 
sistibly proved.  v 

The  following  analysis  of  the  results  will 
spare  the  reader  trouble. 

RESULTS.     I. 

"  The  mighty,  commercial  state  of  Massa- 
chusetts" has  not  paid  as  much  for  duties, 
in  twenty  years,  as  the  agricultural  states  of 
Maryland,  Virginia,  and  South  Carolina. 


55 

II. 
Georgia  paid  more  than  New  Hampshire 
and  Vermont — and  North  Carolina  fifty  per 
cent,  more  than  these  two  states. 
in 
North  Carolina  and  Georgia  paid  nearly 
as  much  as  Connecticut — and  more   than 
Rhode  Island. 

IV. 

Maryland  paid  much  more  in  four  years 
than  Connecticut  or  Rhode  Island  in  twenty. 

Maryland— 1804 1,538,000 

1805 1,130,000 

1806 1,446,000 

1807 1,633,000 


5,747,000 
Connecticut,  20  years,  4,394,000 

Rhode  Island,     do.  4,648,000 

v. 
Massachusetts  has  not  paid  as  much  in 
twenty  years  as   Maryland,  Virginia,  and 
8outh  Carolina. 

Massachusetts,  38,683,000 

Maryland,  1 7,841 ,000 

Virginia,  1 1 ,580,000 

South  Carolina,    11,894,000 

, 41,315,000 


56 


VI. 

New  York  paid  fifty  per  cent  more  than 
"  the  great  commercial  state  of  Massachu- 
setts" and  fifteen  per  cent,  more  than  all 
the  "  homogeneous  Nero  England  states," 
Massachusetts,  38,683,000 

New  Hampshire, 
Vermont,  Rhode 
Island,  and  Con- 
necticut, 10,636,000 


49,3 1 9,000 

New  York,  57,215,000 

VII. 

The  territory  of  New  Orleans  paid  more 

duties  in  the  last  seven  years  than  Rhode 

Island— «and  nearly  as  much  as  Connecticut* 

Rhode  Island,  7  years,  1,726,000 

Connecticut,         do.  2,102,000 

New  Orleans,       do.  1,907,000 

VIII. 

Pennsylvania  has  paid  nearly  as  much  as 
Massachusetts,  and  3-0  per  cent,  more  than 
all  the  rest  of  New  England. 

Pennsylvania,  37,305,000 

Massachusetts,  38,407,000 

Rest  of  New  England,  10,591,000 


IX. 

Maryland  paid  seventy  per  cent,  moic 
than  four  of  the  New  England  states — and 
Virginia  and  South  Carolina  paid  each  ten 
per  cent,  more  than  those  states. 

Maryland,  17,841,000 

New  Hampshire,  Vermont, 
Rhode  Island,  and  Connecticut,      10,591,000 
South  Carolina,  11,894,000 

Virginia,  11,580,000 

x. 
Pennsylvania  and  Maryland  paid  fourteen 
per  cent,  more  than  all  New  England. 
Pennsylvania,  38,683,000 

Maryland,  17,841,000 


56,524,000 
New  England,  49,319,000 

Those  who  consider  the  very  expensive 
habits  of  the  planters  of  Virginia  and  South 
Carolina,  and  the  immense  amount  of  fo- 
reign goods  received  in  those  states  from 
New  England,  New  York,  Pennsylvania, 
and  Maryland,  and  how  very  large  a  pro- 
portion of  the  goods  imported  by  Massa- 
chusetts is  exported  to  the  other  states,  will 


58 

probably  be  led  to  believe,  that  Virginia  and 
South  Carolina  actually  consume  each  as 
much  of  dutiable  articles,  and  of  course  pay 
as  much  duties  as  Massachusetts.  I  ac- 
knowledge this  is  but  a  very  rough  calcu- 
lation. But  a  due  consideration  of  the  very 
large  number  of  coasters,  which  in  time  of 
peace,  are  constantly  plying  between  the 
ports  of  the  middle  and  southern  states, 
will  afford  a  pretty  strong  support  to  this 
opinion.  The  cargoes  to  the  southward  are 
almost  universally  imported  goods  or  arti- 
cles of  domestic  manufacture.  The  return 
cargoes  are  all  of  raw  materials  for  these 
manufactures,  or  articles  pf  the  highest 
value  for  exportation  to  Europe  and  else- 
where. It  is  hard  to  conceive  of  a  more 
advantageous  commerce  for  the  mother 
countries,  as,  in  this  case,  the  middle  and 
southern  states  may  be  justly  styled.  I  re- 
peat it,  and  hope  the  solemn  truth  will  be 
borne  in  constant  remembrance,  that  the 
southern  states  are  virtually  colonies  to 
those  states  that  have  never  ceased  slander- 
ing and  persecuting  them. 

I  dismiss  this  part  of  my  subject,  I  hope 


59 

for  ever.  I  trust  that  the  most  incorrigible 
effrontery  will  never  dare  again  to  hazard  an 
assertion  of  the  commercial  superiority  of 
New  England. 

Having  settled  the  question  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  comparative  claims  of  the  diffe- 
rent sections  of  the  union  to  commercial 
advantages,  I  proceed  to  consider  the  other 
positions  which  assert  the  necessary  hostili- 
ty of  an  agricultural  section  of  a  country  to 
a  commercial  one — the  actual  existence  of 
that  hostility  in  the  southern  states — and  its 
baneful  influence  on  the  measures  of  Con- 
gress. 

Never  since  faction  first  disturbed  the 
peace  of  mankind,  and  made  this  earth  a 
suitable  abode  for  demons  incarnate,  did  she 
employ  a  more  hollow,  fallacious,  or  un- 
founded pretext  to  justify  her  lawless  pro- 
ceedings, than  is  here  to  be  combated.  It 
is  not  merely  untrue:  it  is  the  reverse  of 
truth — It  has  not  even  the  shadow  of  plau- 
sibility.        , 

Let  us  for  a  moment  suppose,  for  sake  of 
argument,  that  New  England  is,  as  she  pre- 
tends to'  be,  exclusively  commercial — and 


60 

the  rest  of  the  union  exclusively  agricultu- 
ral. This  is  placing  the  case  in  the  most 
striking  point  of  light  its  friends  could  de- 
sire. Could  thwre  be  any  stronger  bond  of 
affinity  between  two  nations,  or  two  sections 
of  the  same  nation,  than  the  mutual  wants 
which  this  supposed  case  implies?  The 
agricultural  portion  would  have  imperious 
necessity  for  the  ships,  the  seamen,  and  the 
capital  of  the  commercial  portion,  for  the 
purchase  and  transportation  of  her  superflu- 
ous productions.  And  the  navigation  and 
capital  of  the  commercial  portion  would  find 
all  the  advantages  they  could  require  in  the 
transportation  of  the  productions  of  the 
ether. 

The  agricultural  portion,  in  effect,  would 
be  merely  as  colonies  to  the  commercial 
part.  What  have  ever  been  the  grand  advan- 
tages of  colonies  to  parent  countries  ?  Mere- 
ly to  increase  their  navigation — to  furnish 
raw  materials  for  the  employment  of  their 
artisans  and  manufacturers — and  to  pur- 
chase the  productions  of  the  labours  of  those 
-artisans  and  manufacturers. 

It  therefore  irresistibly  follows,  that  Vir- 


$1 

ginia,  North  and  South  Carolina,  Georgia, 
and  the  western  states,  have  literally  been 
but  colonies  to  the  middle  and  more  particu- 
larly to  the  eastern  states.  The  hardy  and 
enterprising  Yankees  pervade  every  bay, 
river,  creek,  and  inlet  of  the  southern  states; 
and  for  their  notions  carry  off  the  solid  coin 
of  the  country  to  replenish  their  coffers. 
They  every  where  undersell  and  undermine 
the  established  storekeepers  of  those  states- 
Moreover,  the  cotton,  the  rice,  the  flour,  the 
tobacco,  and  the  naval  stores  of  these  states, 
have  enabled  the  ship  owners  of  New  Eng- 
land to  amass  those  overgrown  nabob  for- 
tunes, which  render  them  too  great  to  sub- 
mit to  the  equal  form  of  government  which 
we  enjoy.  New  England  has  literally  lived 
upon  the  industry  of  the  southern  states. 
Without  them  she  would  rank  very  low  in- 
deed in  the  scale  of  nations. 

This  state  of  things  so  eminently  ad  van  - 
tageous  to  New  England,  has  never  created 
faction,  or  complaint,  or  convulsions,  or 
threats  of  dissolving  the  union,  in  the  south- 
ern states.    They  have  cheerfully  supported 

F 


62 

a  government  whose  chief  attention  has  been 
directed  to  the  promotion  of  commerce — and 
which  never  did  and  never  would  have  ex- 
perienced any  very  great  difficulty  with  fo- 
reign nations  but  from  the  cupidity  of  the 
mercantile  interest. 

It  requires  little  labour  to  prove,  and  little 
capacity  to  perceive,  that  there  is  a  com- 
mercial rivalry  between  Massachusetts  and 
Rhode  Island — between  Philadelphia  and 
New  York — between  Baltimore  and  Phila- 
delphia. But  that  a  serious,  thinking  peo- 
ple, like  those  of  New  England,  should  have 
ever  been  duped  to  believe  that  there  is  any 
real  cause  of  jealousy  and  hostility  between 
the  commercial  and  agricultural  sections  of 
the  country,  is  a  folly,  of  which  it  is  hardly 
possible  to  find  a  parallel  in  the  history  of 
the  madness  and  idiocy  of  the  human  spe- 
cies. 

To  view  the  subject  once  more — although 
it  really  does  not  deserve  further  attention. 
Suppose  still  the  middle  and  southern  states 
wholly  agricultural,  and  the  New  England 
states  wholly  commercial,  and  that  the  for- 
mer have  an  overwhelming  majority  in  the 


63 

legislature.  How  could  it  ever  into  the  mind 
of  any  rational  being  to  suppose  that  the  ma- 
jority could  for  a  moment  be  ignorant  of  the 
plain  truth,  that  every  stroke  at  commerce 
was  a  stroke  at  their  own  vital  interests  ?      * 

It  is  a  well  known  fact,  that  the  represen- 
tatives of  the  southern  and  western  states 
are  generally  gentlemen  of  the  highest  grade 
of  talents  in  Congress.  From  causes  which  it 
is  neither  necessary  nor  proper  for  me  here 
to  detail,  the  middle  states  have  not  made  as 
respectable  a  figure  in  that  body  as  could 
have  been  wished.  New  England  has  not 
been  quite  so  unfortunate.  It  requires,  how- 
ever, but  a  moderate  portion  of  candour  to 
acknowledge  that  although  she  occasionally 
sends  to  Congress  men  of  considerable 
talents,  she  is  on  the  aggregate  far  below 
Virginia,  South  Carolina  and  Kentucky. 
And  could  the  plain  truth  escape  the 
Eppeses,  the  Gileses,  the  Clays,  and  the 
Popes,  that  it  was  impossible  to  injure  com- 
merce without  inflicting  an  equal  injury  on 
agriculture  ? 

The  agricultural  portion  of  this  great  na- 
tion could  infinitely  better  dispense  with  the 


64 

commercial,  than  the  latter  with  the  former. 
Never,  since  commerce  first  began,  did  a 
nation,  having  bulky  raw  materials  to  sell, 
and  having  demands  for  large  quantities  of 
merchandize,  find  any  difficulty  in  creating 
a  marine,  or,  amidst  naval  competitors  for 
her  trade,  in  securing  the  transportation  of 
her  commodities  on  fair  and  advantageous 
terms.  But  the  decay  of  Venice,  Genoa, 
the  Hanse  Towns,  and  other  great  commer- 
cial states,  proves  that  a  nation  possessed  of 
a  considerable  marine,  may,  if  it  affront  or 
offend  the  nations  on  which  it  depends,  be 
reduced  to  its  native  and  intrinsic  insignifi- 
cance. 

New  England  labours  under  very  great 
disadvantages.  The  sterility  of  her  soil 
will  leave  her  eternally  dependent  upon  the 
southern  states ;  for  her  situation  imperi- 
ously forces  her  to  have  recourse  to  manu- 
factures and  commerce.  Her  agriculture 
must  always  be  comparatively  insignificant. 
She  therefore,  I  repeat,  owes  her  greatness 
principally  to  the  immensely  valuable  trade 
she  carries  on  with  those  states,  which  her 
tin  grateful  writers  and  demagogues  are  con* 


69 

or  credit,  must  succumb  to  its  adversary- 
bend  the  neck  to  the  yoke — make  humble 
submission — and  receive  the  law  from  the 
conqueror.  To  these  truths  history  bears 
ample  testimony. 

Under  this  impression,  shortly  after  the 
declaration  of  war,  there  was  a  combination 
formed  to  prevent  the  success  of  the  loans 
authorised  by  congress.  I  believe  that  nearly 
ail  those  who  entered  into  this  scheme  re- 
sided in  New  England,  particularly  in  Bos- 
ton, which  was  the  grand  focus  of  the  con- 
spiracy. 

There  never  was  a  measure,  however 
atrocious,  but  there  was  a  plausible  plea  in- 
vented to  palliate  or  justify  its  enormity. 
This  high-handed  conspiracy  to  destroy  the 
credit  of  the  government  of  their  country, 
which  originated  among  the  "moral  and 
religious  people"  of  Boston,  was  predicated 
upon  two  positions  : 

First,  that  England  was  and  had  always 
been  willing  to  make  a  treaty  with  us  on  fair 
and  honourable  terms  ;  and  that  so  great 
was  her  magnanimity,  she  would  take  no 
advantage  of  any  of  the  embarrassments  or 


TO 

difficulties  that  might  arise  from  the  de- 
struction of  the  public  credit.  %. 

Secondly,  that  our  administration  were 
so  obstinately  bent  on  continuing  the  war, 
that  they  would  make  no  peace  while  they 
had  the  means  of  carrying  it  on. 

A  corollary  from  these  positions  was, 
that  if  the  conspirators  prevented  the  suc- 
cess of  the  loans,  and  deprived  the  govern- 
ment of  the  means  of  prosecuting  hostilities, 
we  should  in  consequence  have  peace. 

These  positions  must  excite  the  amaze^ 
ment  of  any  calm  observer.  **  But  as  soon 
'<  as  he  should  be  acquainted  with  the  na- 
"  ture  and  existence  of  prejudice,  passion, 
"  obstinacy,  wilfulness,  wickedness,  and 
<;  above  all,  with  the  character  and  influence 
"  of  wty  spirit,  the  mystery  would  vanish 
"  at  once  :  for  he  would  then  see  that  these 
"  and  not  reason  decide.  Reason  asks  for 
"  facts  and  arguments ;  prejudice,  passion, 
"  and  the  rest,  ask  for  names,  sounds,  noise, 
*c  and  fury.  By  those  they  are  impelled— 
<*  by  these  they  decided* 

*  The  Examiner,  by  Barent  Gardenier,  vol.  i 
page  57. 


71 

Our  government  had  given  three  strong 
and  conclusive  proofs  of  a  disposition  to 
conclude  the  war,  which  must  carry  con- 
viction to  every  candid  mind. 

First,  on  the  27th  of  June,  1812,  they  had 
offered  the  British  government  an  armistice 
on  the  simple  and  reasonable  conditions  of 
suspending,  during  the  negociation,  the  out- 
rage of  impressment,  and  surrendering  the 
American  seamen  previously  impressed. 
The  suspension  of  impressment  at  that  pe- 
riod could  not  have  occasioned  Great  Britain 
any  possible  disadvantage;  for,  having  near- 
ly annihilated  all  the  rival  navies  of  Europe, 
her  stock  of  sailors  could  not  require  to  be 
replenished  by  impressment  from  our  ves- 
sels. And  as  she  had  at  all  times  professed 
a  willingness  to  give  up  our  seamen,  there 
could  have  been  no  difficulty  on  the  second 
point;  and  she  ought,  therefore,  to  have 
met  our  amicable  overtures  with  frankness. 
If  she  was  fighting  for  her  existence,  as  has 
been  said  a  thousand  times  ;  and  if  our  hos- 
tility jeopardized  it ;  it  was  the  quintessence 
of  madness  and  folly,  not  to  have  withdrawn 
us  from  the  number  of  her  ene'mfc s,  when 


72 

she  could  have  done  it  on  such  easy  terms, 
without  impairing  her  credit  or  character. 

Secondly,  They  had  promptly  accepted 
the  Russian  mediation  for  the  termination 
of  hostilities.     But 

Thirdly,  and  most  particularly,  in  the  ap- 
pointment of  three  ministers  to  negociate, 
Mr.  Bayard,  a  decided  federalist,  was  cho- 
sen— a  gentleman  of  high  standing  with  his 
own  party — of  considerable  talents — and 
strenuously  opposed  to  the  administration. 
Unless  his  instructions  had  been  fair  and 
Honourable,  he  would  not  certainly  have  ac- 
cepted the  appointment. 

In  the  appointment  of  ministers  in  Eng- 
land or  elsewhere,  I  believe  there  is  no 
similar  instance  to  be  met  with,  of  the  choice 
of  a  person  hostile  to  the  administration 
who  appointed  him.  It  was  making  a  very 
great  effort  to  remove  suspicion  and  jealousy 
from  the  public  mind.  Nothing  but  the 
mcurable  folly  and  madness  engendered  by 
faction,  could  possibly  resist  the  fair  infe- 
rence warranted  by  this  appointment.  But 
it  was  wholly  unavailing.  Faction  is  now, 
ever  has  been,  and  ever  will  be,  deaf,  and 


dumb,  and  blind,   to  reason  and  common 
sense. 

These  three  facts  notwithstanding,  the 
persuasion  was  general  among  the  u  peace 
party"  that  the  government  was  averse  from 
closing  the  war.  All  the  talents  of  the  fe- 
deralists in  New  England  and  elsewhere, 
were  now  put  into  requisition  to  impress 
this  idea  on  the  public  mind.  The  leaders  of 
the  party  affected  to  be,  and  the  odiers 
were,  inflexible  in  the  opinion. 

In  consequence  every  possible  exertion 
was  made  in  Boston  to  deter  the  citizens 
from  subscribing  to  the  loans.  Associations 
were  entered  into  in  the  most  solemn  and 
public  manner  to  this  effect.  And  those 
who  could  not  be  induced  by  mild  means* 
were  deterred  by  denunciations.  A  volume 
might  be  filled  with  the  lucubrations  that 
appeared  on  this  subject. 

The  pulpit,  as  usual  in  Boston,  came  in 
aid  of  the  press,  to  secure  success.  Those 
who  subscribed  were  in  direct  terms  declar- 
ed participators  in,  and  accessaries  to,  all  the 
"  murders"  as  they  were  termed,  that  might 


74 

take  place  in  the  "  unholy,  unrighteous, 
xvicked,  abominable,  and  accursed  war ?y 

To  enable  us  to  judge  of  the  detestable 
wickedness  of  these  proceedings,  let  us  ex- 
amine what  would  be  the  effect  of  complete 
success.  No  diminution  of  the  guilt  of  any 
act  arises  from  its  failure  to  produce  its 
usual  and  intended  effect*  The  man  who 
fires  a  pistol  with  intent  to  kill,  is  in  the  eye 
of  heaven  equally  a  murderer  with  him 
whose  ball  passes  through  the  brains  of  his 
victim.  Had  complete  success  crowned  the 
efforts  of  the  conspiracy,  these  awful  conse- 
quences would  have  taken  place  : — 

First,  a  national  bankruptcy.  The  pub- 
lic creditors  and  all  who  depended  on  them 
would  have  been  ruined. 

Secondly,  with  the  downfall  of  the  public 
stock,  would  have  fallen  the  stocks  of  banks, 
insurance  companies,  &c.  &c. 

Thirdly,  private  bankruptcy  would  have 
followed  to  an  enormous  extent :  and  wide- 
spread ruin  would  have  pervaded  the  na- 
tion. 

Fourthly,  the  national  armies  must  have 
been  disbanded,  and  the  frontiers  exposed  to 


75 

the  desolating  effects  of  the  hatchet  and  to- 
mahawk. The  aged  matron — the  chaste  and 
tender  wife — the  blooming  maiden — the  de- 
crepid  grandsire — the  manly  father — and 
the  helpless  infant,  all  would  have  been  in- 
volved in  one  wide,  impartial,  and  undistin- 
guishing  destruction. 

Fifthly,  our  seaport  towns  would  have 
been  exposed  to  the  mercy  of  Cockburnes 
and  Gordons.  We  should  have  shared  the 
fate  of  Alexandria,  of  Hampton,  of  Havre- 
de- Grace,  and  of  Frenchtown. 

And  sixthly,  to  close  the  awful  catalogue, 
our  government  would  be  laid  at  the  mercy 
of  Great  Britain; — and,  deprived  of  the 
means  of  resistance,  must  have  submitted  to 
whatever  ignominious  terms  she  would 
choose  to  impose. 

These  were  the  results  that  must  have 
taken  place,  had  success  crowned  the  horri- 
ble project.  Never  was  unholy  purpose  at- 
tempted by  more  unholy  means. 

It  is  highly  probable  that  many  of  the 
persons  engaged  in  this  conspiracy  did  not 
contemplate  such  extensive  results.  They 
probably  looked  no  farther  forward  than  to 


76 

the  restoration  of  peace.  But  the  leaders  in 
the  scheme  were  too  keen,  too  shrewd,  too 
profound,  to  allow  us  to  extend  to  them  the 
same  degree  of  charity.  Their  minds  must 
have  grasped  all  the  stupendous  and  awful 
consequences-— and  they  had  reconciled 
themselves  to  the  wide- spread  devastation, 
which  they  regarded  as  «'  a  consummation 
devoutly  to  be  wished." 

The  success  in  New  England  was  con- 
siderable. Few  men  have  courage  to  stem 
the  tide  of  popular  delusion  when  it  sets  in 
very  strong.  There  were  some,  however, 
who  subscribed  openly,  in  defiance  of  denun- 
ciations and  threats.  Others,  of  less  firm  tex- 
ture, loaned  their  money  by  stealth,  and  as 
clandestinely  as  if  it  were  treasonable.  What, 
alas,  must  be  the  awful  state  of  society, 
when  a  free  citizen  is  afraid  of  loaning  his 
money  publicly  to  support  the  government 
that  protects  him — die  mildest  form  of  go- 
vernment ever  vouchsafed  by  heaven  to 
man — whose  mildness  enables  its  enemies 
to  jeopardize  its  very  existence  !  Who,  that 
has  a  soul  to  feel — who  that  has  a  spark  of 
j^xjotism  or  public  spirit  in  his  frame,  but 


must  be  fired  with  a  holy  indignation  at  such 
a  hideous,  such  a  horrible  state  of  the  pub- 
lic mind! 

I  am  at  a  distance  from  the  scene  of  ac- 
tion, and  for  the  present  am  not  as  well  pro- 
vided with  materials  to  prove  these  facts  as 
T  could  wish.  But  I  think  the  following  will 
remove  the  rising  scepticism  of  the  reader — 

"  Money  is  such  a  drug  (the  surest  sign  of  the 
"former  prosperity,  and  present  insecurity  of 
'«  trade)  that  men  against  their  consciences,  their 
•'  honour,  their  duty,  their  professions  and  PRO- 
"  MISES — are  willing  to  lend  it  secretly — to 
"  support  the  very  measures  which  are  both  in- 
"  tended  and  calculated  for  their  ruin."* 

This  paragraph,  the  production  of  John 
Lowel,  establishes  the  existence  of  a  com- 
bination to  prevent  the  success  of  the  loans, 
who  had  li  promised"  each  other,  or  pledged 
themselves  not  to  subscribe  :  some  of  whom, 
nevertheless,  did  subscribe — but  to  avoid 
the  reproaches  and  persecution  of  their  as- 
sociates, did  it  "  secretly,"  This  conclusion 
irresistibly   follows.    These  ^promises  not 

*  Road  to  Ruin,  No.  5,  sub  fine  . 
G   2 


78 

to  lend  their  money"  must  refer  to  the 
combination  I  have  stated.  It  can  have  no 
other  meaning.  And  the  fair  construction  of 
their  lending  M  secretly"  can  be  no  -other 
than  that  they  were  liable  to  some  species  of 
disgrace  with,  or  persecution  from,  their 
party,  if  they  lent  openly. 

Of  the  species  of  denunciations  held  out 
to  deter  from  subscriptions,  some  idea  may 
be  formed  from  the  following  paragraph, 
taken  from  a  Boston  paper,  of  September, 
1813,  published  about  the  time  of  the  fast 
ordered  by  the  president  of  the  United 
States  on  the  9th  of  that  month — 

"  Let  no  man  who  wishes  to  continue  the  war 
"  by  active  ?neans,   by  vote,  or  lending  money, 

"DARE     fO     PROSTRATE     HIMSELF  AT  THE    AL- 

"  Tar  on  The  fast  DAT ;  for  they  are  actually 
"  as  much  fiartakers  in  the  war,  as  the  soldier  who 
"thrusts   the  bayonet ;  and  The  yi  dgment  of 

"  GOD  WILL  AW  A  If  THEM."'' 

This  is  a  fair  specimen  of  hundreds  of 
paragraphs  and  essays  written  with  a  view 
to  intimidate  monied  men  from  subscribing 
to  the  loans.  Canting  hypocrites,  who  were 
violating  the  fundamental  laws  of  society, 


encouraging  (C  smuggling,"  and  "  perjury'* 
—"acquiring  ill-gotten  wealth  at  the  expense 
of  public  morals" — and  endeavouring, 
though  a  small  minority?  to  trample  down 
the  majority,  had  the  wickedness  to  call 
down  u  the  judgment  of  God"  upon  the 
supporters  of  a  lawful  and  mild  govern- 
ment ! 

In  the  middle  states,  the  federalists  did 
not  enter  into  the  project,  or  to  a  very  limit- 
ed extent.  Many  of  them  were  subscribers 
— some  on  a  very  liberal  scale.  And  thus 
the  loans,  in  spite  of  the  press  and  the  pul- 
pit, and  the  efforts  of  the  conspirators,  suc- 
ceeded, to  their  infinite  mortification.  New 
means  were  brought  into  operation,  which 
were  temporarily  crowned  with  success. 

How  strong  soever  may  be  the  general 
sense  of  the  infamy  of  smuggling,  it  has  al- 
ways prevailed,  and  will  never  be  wholly 
suppressed,  while  the  advantages  it  holds 
out  are  so  great,  and  while  there  are  men 
to  be  found  who  worship  gain  as  their  God. 
It  is  not  therefore  surprising,  that,  as  the 
non-importation,  the  embargo,  &c.  were  de- 
nounced as  oppressive,  unjust,  and  uncon- 


80 

stitutional — and  the  war  as  wicked  and  un- 
provoked, and  corrupt,  smuggling  should 
be  carried  on  to  a  most  prodigious  extent. 
The  Boston  papers  repeatedly  invited  and 
urged  the  citizens  to  set  the  restrictive  sys- 
tem at  defiance.  These  circumstances  con- 
spired to  supply  Boston  with  smuggled 
goods  on  a  very  large  scale. 

Of  the  extent  to  which  smuggling,  and 
fraud,  and  perjury,  are  carried  in  Boston, 
some  idea  may  be  formed  from  the  follow- 
ing "  precious  confession,"  written  by  John 
Lowel.  It  describes  a  state  of  society  not 
exceeded  in  the  most  corrupt  countries  in 
Europe. 

"Encouraged  and  protected  from  infamy  by  the 
just  odium  against  the  war,  they  engage,  in  law- 
less speculations — sneer  at  the  restraints  of  con- 
science— laugh  at  perjury — mock  at  legal  restraints 
— and  acquire  an  ill-gotten  wealth  at  the  expense 
of  public  morals,  and  of  the  more  sober,  conscien- 
tious part  of  the  community."* 

It  is  worthy  of  the  most  serious  reflection 
of  the  honourable  and  public-spirited  fede- 

*  Road  to  Ruin ,  No.  6. 


81 

ralists  of  the  middle  and  southern  states, 
how  far  they  can,  without  disgrace  and  dis- 
honour, any  longer  "follow  the  lead"  of  a 
fnvn  where  such  a  state  of  things  exists — 
where  turpitude  has  so  firmly  fixed  her  seat, 
that  no  regard  is  paid  to  l<  the  restraints  of 
conscience" — where  "perjury,"  is  a  subject 
of  "  laughter" — where  <c  legal  restraints" 
are  M  set  at  defiance" — and  where  <c  public 
?norals"  are  sacrificed  to  the  acquisition  of 
(i  ill-gotten  wealth" — What  an  awful  con- 
sideration it  is,  that  such  a  description  of 
citizens  should  have  it  in  their  power  to  de- 
cide the  destinies  of  eight  millions  of  people 
and  their  posterity !  for  it  is  a  most  fright- 
ful truth,  that  all  the  violent,  lawless,  Jaco- 
binical, and  wicked  measures,  which  are 
driving  this  country  to  perdition,  have  their 
origin  in  Boston,  where  "  perjury  and 
smuggling"  are  the  roads  to  fortune — and 
where  i(  conscience  affords  no  restraint."* 

*  I  wish  here  to  avoid  being  misunderstood.  This 
statement  respecting  Boston  is  to  be  received  with 
due  qualification.  I  have  numerous  and  most  esti- 
mable acquaintances  in  Boston — equal  in  point  of 
honour  and  integrity  to  any  citizens  in  the   United 


82 

Mr.  Lowel,  after  drawing  this  frightful 
picture  of  his  townsmen,  endeavours  to 
make  the  administration  answerable  for  the 
whole  to  tl  a  just  God,"  who  6i  knorvs  how 
to  trace  the  causes  of  human  events ."  This 
is  most  sorry  and  contemptible  canting,  and 
can  deceive  no  man  beyond  the  rank  of  an 
ideot.  This  hideous  derangement  of  mo- 
rals, is  solely  the  production  of  faction, 
which  consecrates  every  means,  however 
wicked,  to  answer  its  vile  purposes. 

"  Administration  hirelings  may  revile  the  north- 
ern states,  and  the  merchants  generally,  for  this 
monstrous  depravation  of  morals,  t/iis  execrable 
course  of  smuggling  and  fraud.  But  there  is  a 
just  God,  who  knows  how  to  trace  the  causes  of  hu- 

States.  And  such  I  consider  the  mass  of  the  inha- 
bitants. Bat  in  times  of  factious  violence,  the  worst 
men  always  rise  uppermost;  gain  the  ascendency; 
give  the  tone  to  public  measures ;  and  establish  an 
arbitrary  sway.  And  the  men  who  "laugh  at  per- 
jury,'* and  "  sneer  at  the  restraints  of  conscience" 
are  precisely  those  who  regulate  the  public  proceed- 
ings in  Boston.  At  ail  events,  the  picture  of  Boston 
is  not  mine.  If  it  be  incorrect,  I  am  not  answerable. 
Let  Mr.  Lowel  and  his  friends  settle  the  account  be- 
tween them. 


83 

man  events:  and  he  will  assuredly  visit  upon  the 
authors  of  this  war,  all  the  iniquities  of  which  it  has 
been  the  occasion.  If  the  guilty  deserve  our  scorn 
or  our  fiity,  the  temfiters  and  seducers  deserve  our 
execration."* 

This  is  very  just  and  true.  The  guilty 
deserve  our  scorn.  The  seducers  merit  ex- 
ecration. But  who  are  the  seducers  ?  Those, 
indubitably,  who  for  so  many  years  have 
been  employed,  by  every  means,  however 
base  or  vile,  in  exciting  the  people  to  forci- 
ble opposition  to  the  rulers  of  their  choice — 
who  have,  in  the  public  papers,  openly  in- 
vited those,  who  need  no  such  invitation,  to 
break  through  laws  fairly  and  constitutional- 
ly enacted,  which  they  denounced  as  op- 
pressive and  "  unconstitutional"  These  are 
"the  seducers"  These  are  the  men  on 
whom  heaven  in  its  righteous  decrees,  will 
"  visit  all  the  iniquities"  to  which  their  am- 
bition, their  turbulence,  and  their  factious 
spirit  have  given  occasion. 

Many  valuable  British  prizes  were  sent 
into  Boston,  which  greatly  added  to  the 
stock  of  goods   there.     The   middle    and 

*  Ibid. 


S4 

southern  states  drew  nearly  all  their  supplies 
of  foreign  merchandize  from  that  town. 
This  course  of  events  filled  the  vaults  of  the 
banks  in  Boston  with  incomparably  more 
specie  than  they  ever  had  before — and  raised 
very  heavy  balances  against  the  banks  in 
New  York,  The  Philadelphia  banks  were 
indebted  to  those  in  New  York ;  those  in 
Baltimore  to  these  in  Philadelphia  ;  and  so 
on,  more  to  the  southward. 

It  may  not  be  unamusing  to  the  reader  to 
explain  this  process  a  little  more  in  detail. 
New  York  purchased  largely  in  Boston,  partly 
for  bank  notes,  and  partly  on  credit — for  the 
latter  portion  promissory  notes  were  given, 
which  were  transmitted  from  Boston  to  the 
New  York  banks  for  collection.  Very  large 
purchases  were  likewise  made  in  Boston  by 
citizens  of  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Rich- 
mond, Petersburg,  &c.  Payments  were 
made  in  bank  notes  of  the  middle  and 
southern  states,  and  in  promissory  notes. 
Both  were  sent  on  to  New  York,  the  first 
for  transmission  to  the  banks  whence  they 
were  issued — and  the  second  for  collection. 

This  state  of  things  suggested  the  stu- 


85 

pendous  idea,  at  which  the  reader  will  stand 
aghast,  of  wielding  the  financial  advantages 
then  enjoyed  by  Boston,  to  produce  the 
effect  which  the  press  and  the  pulpit  had 
failed  to  accomplish — that  is,  to  stop  the 
wheels  of  the  government  by  a  general  bank- 
ruptcy in  the  middle  and  southern  states  1 1 1 
This  scheme  was  projected  last  winter — and 
immediate  arrangements  were  made  to  carry 
it  into  execution.  It  has  richly  earned  for 
the  projectors  the  heavy  curses  of  the  widows 
and  orphans  and  other  persons  on  whom  it 
has  entailed  so  much  distress. 

Accordingly  the  New  York  bank  notes 
held  by  the  Boston  banks  were  sent  forward 
with  demands  for  their  amount  in  specie — 
and  drafts  were  drawn  for  the  balances  on 
the  face  of  the  books  to  enormous  amounts. 
I  am  credibly  informed  that  the  sum  was  at 
least  four  millions  of  dollars  from  the  time 
of  commencing  these  operations  till  the  29th 
of  last  August.  To  relieve  themselves  from 
this  pressure,  the  New  York  banks  drew  as 
largely  as  the  state  of  the  accounts  would 
admit,  on  those  of  Philadelphia— the  latter 


86 

on  those  of  Baltimore— these  on  Richmond* 
&c.  &c. 

A  fearful  alarm  spread  through  the  com- 
munity. The  issue  was  looked  for  with 
terror.  Wagons  were  loading  with  specie 
at  the  doors  of  our  banks  almost  every  week. 
There  have  been  three  wagons  at  one  time 
loading  in  Philadelphia.  The  banks  were 
obliged  to  curtail  their  discounts.  Bankrupt- 
cies took  place  to  a  considerable  extent. 
Even  wealthy  men,  who  were  wholly  un- 
prepared for  such  a  crisis,  suffered  great 
inconvenience.  Some  who  had  subscribed 
to  the  loans  were  unable  to  comply  with 
their  engagements :  and  others  were  with- 
held from  subscribing  by  the  general  pres- 
sure for  money.  In  consequence  the  loan, 
then  pending,  partially  failed,  to  the  very 
great  embarrassment  of  the  government,  and 
distress  of  the  public.  This  was  the  nefa- 
rious object  in  view. 

I  have  before  me  "  A  true  abstract  of  the 
statements  of  the  several  bank  corporations 
in  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts, 
rendered  January,  1814,"  published  by  the 


87 

secretary,  from  which  it  appears  that  at  that 
period,  the  specie  in  the  vaults  was — 

Massachusetts,  2,114,164  dolls. 

Union,  657,795 

Boston,  1,182,572 

State,  659,066 

New  England,  284,456 


g  4,898,053 
At  this  time  these  banks  had  in  circula- 
tion only  the  following  amount  of  notes  :  of 
course  there  could  not  be  the  least  pretext 
of  want  of  specie  to  answer  any  possible 
demand  :— 

Massachusetts,  682,708  dolls. 

Union,  233,225 

Boston,  369,903 

State,  509,000 

New  England,  161,170 


S  1,956,006 

It  therefore  appears  that  for  every  hun~ 

dred  dollars  of  their  notes  in  circulation, 

they  had  250  dollars  in  specie — a  state  of 

things  probably  unparalleled  in  the  history 


88 

of  banking,  from  the  days  of  the  Lombards 
to  the  present  time. 

No  man  can  pretend,  that  with  the  above 
enormous  amount  of  specie,  and  the  mode- 
rate amount  of  notes  in  circulation,  these 
banks  would  have  thought  it  either  advisa- 
ble or  necessary  to  make  these  very  unusual 
and  immoderate  drafts,  unless  there  was 
some  extraordinary  purpose  to  be  answered. 

Attempts  have  been  made  to  justify  these 
proceedings  as  merely  the  result  of  the  ba- 
lance of  trade  in  favour  of  Boston.  It  has 
been  asserted  that  it  was  no  more  than  right 
and  proper  for  the  banks  of  that  town  to 
require  the  balances  due  them;  and  that 
this  case  daily  occurs,  of  banks  drawing  on 
each  other  in  a  similar  mode,  when  balances 
accrue. 

These  palliatives  will  not  stand  the  test 
of  sober  examination.  A  large  portion  of 
the  heaviest  drafts,  indeed  those  that  first 
excited  alarm,  were  made  during  the  winter, 
when  the  freight  was  20,  25,  or  30  per  cent, 
higher,  in  consequence  of  the  wretched  state 
of  the  roads,  than  it  would  have  been,  had 
they  waited  a  few  weeks.     This  is  a  con* 


89 

elusive  circumstance — taken  in  conjunction 
with  the  fact,  that  there  was  a  superabun- 
dance of  specie  in  the  Boston  banks. 

It  is  well  known  to  every  person  in  the 
slightest  degree  acquainted  with  banking, 
that  very  large  balances  accrue  against  banks 
in  other  cities,  and  remain  unclaimed  some- 
times for  months  together,  unless  the  specie 
be  wanted.  The  banks  do  not  choose  unne- 
cessarily to  incur  the  expense  of  transporta- 
tion— and  wait  in  expectation  of  the  balance 
being  reduced  by  the  regular  operations  of 
trade.  *I  think  I  am  safe  in  saying  that 
millions  of  dollars  are  constantly  thus  cir- 
cumstanced, between  New  York,  Philadel- 
phia, and  Baltimore.  New  York  owes  large- 
ly at  times  to  Philadelphia — Philadelphia  at 
other  times  largely  to  New  York — and  so  of 
banks  in  other  places. 

To  render  the  stroke  at  public  credit  more 
unerring — and  to  place  the  result  wholly  out 
of  the  reach  of  contingency,  there  was  an 
arrangement  made  by  some  persons  at  pre- 
sent unknown,  with  agents  of  the  govern- 
ment of  Lower  Canada,  whereby  an  immense 
amount  of  British  government  bills,  dratvn 
H  2 


90 

in  Quebec,  were  thrown  into  the  markets  in 
New  Tork,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore, 
which  xvere  sold  to  monied  men  on  such  ad* 
vantageous  terms  as  induced  them  to  make 
large  purchases.  And  thus  was  absorbed  a 
very  large  portion  of  the  capital  of  these 
three  cities. 

These  bills  were  transmitted  through  the 
hands  of  trusty  persons  in  Boston  :  and  the 
proceeds  being  placed  to  their  credit,  added 
immensely  to  the  command  the  Boston  banks 
had  over  those  in  the  middle  and  southern 
states. 

Let  us  here  make  a  solemn  pause.  Let  us 
strip  these  facts  of  the  thin  veil  thrown  over 
them.  Let  us  consider  them  in  all  their  na- 
kedness, in  all  their  deformity. 

My  heart  sickens  at  the  investigation.  I 
turn  with  disgust,  with  horror,  with  affright. 
Boston,  the  cradle  of  the  revolution,  which 
claims  so  high  a  degree  of  pre-eminence  for 
its  "  morality  and  religion,"  draws  away  the 
specie  from  the  middle  and  southern  states, 
to  bankrupt  the  government,  regardless  of 
the  universal  ruin  in  which  it  would  involve 
indiscriminately  friends  of  war — friends  of 


91 

peace— federalists— -democrats, — young- and 
old — men,  women,  and  children  !  And,  to 
add  a  deeper  die  to  the  transaction,  the  specie 
is  transmitted  to  agents  of  the  governor  of 
Canada,  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  him  to 
dispatch  his  red  allies  to  swim  in  blood  on 
the  defenceless  frontiers  of  their  own  coun- 
try! This  is  the  work  of  fell,  accursed  fac- 
tion !  the  heaviest  scourge  that  ever  issued 
from  Pandora's  box. 

The  consequences  of  these  operations  are 
still  severely  felt.  Many  estimable  indi- 
viduals have  been  absolutely  ruined.  Bank 
paper  has  become  an  object  of  brokerage, 
and  is  sold  at  various  rates  from  three  to 
fifteen  per  cent,  discount.  A  general  stag- 
nation has  been  produced.  The  loss  fails 
most  heavily  on  the  poor,  as  is  usual  in  all 
such  cases.  The  rich  are  enabled  to  make 
most  extravagant  profits,  and  are  literally 
preying  upon  the  middle  and  poorer  class  of 
society.  The  entire  profits  of  business  are 
swallowed  up  by  the  extravagant  discounts 
paid  on  bank  paper,  a  case  hitherto  unknown 
in  this  part  of  the  country.  And  thus,  in  a  sea- 
son of  distress  and  difficulty,  the  embarrass- 


92 

ment  of  the  citizens  is  doubled  or  trebled. 
And  what  is  the  most  daring  and  profligate 
part  of  the  business,  the  men  who 

** have  played  these  pranks  before  high  heaven? 

are  impudent  enough  to  charge  the  whole  of 
the  distress  to  the  account  of  the  adminis- 
tration ! 

"  The  offence  is  rank-~it  smells  to  heaven" 
To  render  the  affair  more  shocking,  more 
gross,  more  hideous,  those  who  have  perpe- 
trated this  wickedness,  hypocritically  refuse 
to  rejoice  in  the  victories  of  their  country— 
as  <c  unbecoming  a  moral  and  religious  peo- 
ple ! ! !" 

There  is  not  in  the  world  a  country,  but 
the  United  States,  wherein  such  a  crime 
could  be  perpetrated  with  impunity.  Even 
by  our  mildest  of  all  mild  constitutions  it  is 
treason.  "Treason  against  the  United 
"  States,  shall  consist  only  in  levying  war 
<c  against  them,  or  in  adhering  to  their  ene- 
"rnies,  GIVING  THEM  AID  AND 
«4  COMFORT."  If  supplying  an  enemy 
with  specie  to  enable  him  to  carry  on  the 
war  against  their  native  country,  be  not  giv- 


93 

ing  him  tf  aid  and  comfort"  and  that  of  the 
most  substantial  kind,  I  know  not  what  arc 
*6  aid  and  comfort" 

Every  man  concerned  in  this  business  of 
furnishing  these  aids  to  the  enemy,  is  ipso 
facto  a  traitor.  His  life  has  been  forfeited. 
That  he  has  not  expiated  his  crime  by  pay- 
ing the  forfeit,  he  owes  to  the  ill-requited 
lenity  of  an  insulted  government.  Every 
person  who  knew  of  the  commission  of  the 
crime,  and  did  not  reveal  it,  was  guilty  of 
misprision  of  treason. 

Compare  this  offence  with  the  rebellion  in 
Massachusetts  under  Shays,  the  whiskey  in- 
surrection, or  with  that  of  the  poor,  deluded, 
ignorant  Fries !  you  may  as  well  compare 
the  Andes  to  Mount  Pleasant. 

This  crime  in  England  would  subject  the 
perpetrator  either  to  be  hung  and  gibbeted, 
or  to  be  hung,  drawn,  and  quartered.  In 
the  former  case,  his  carcase  would  be  ex- 
posed to  be  devoured  by  obscene  birds  of 
prey — in  the  latter,  his  head  would  be  ele- 
vated as  an  ornament  on  the  tower  of  Lon- 
don to  deter  other  traitors  from  the  perpe- 
tration of  similar  crimes. 


94 

Let  us  once  more,  though  the  sight  turn 
us  aghast,  examine  this  hideous,  this  exe- 
crable scene — which  sinks  the  perpetrators 
and  connivers  into  the  lowest  abyss  of  in- 
famy. 

Men  in  the  "  moral  and  religious"  town 
of  Boston  are  obliged  to  lend  their  money  to 
their  own  government  by  stealth — but  in  the 
face  of  day,  within  the  knowledge  of  a  whole 
community,  they  send  money  to  the  com- 
mon enemy  to  support  him  against  their  own 
country !  Can  human  nature  sink  lower  ? 
They  are  "  too  moral  and  too  religious"  to 
rejoice  at  the  victories  of  their  fellow  citi- 
zens— but  they  are  neither  "  too  moral  nor 
too  religious"  to  aid  the  enemy  to  victory ! 
An  age  of  penitence  in  sackcloth  and  ashes 
would  not  efface  this  foul  -blot  from  the  es- 
cutcheon of  Boston. 

It  is  hardly  possible  to  add  a  shade  to  the 
enormity  of  this  crime.  But  one  circum- 
stance enhances  its  atrocity.  It  was  perpe- 
trated while  negociations  for  peace  were 
going  on,  the  success  whereof  it  had  so  di- 
rect a  tendency  to  defeat,  by  placing  the 
British  in  a  state  to  rise  in  their  demands ; 


95 

although  the  guilty  persons  professed  to  be- 
long to  the  "  peace  party." 

The  immense  magnitude  of  this  subject 
induces  me  to  dwell  a  little  longer  on  it ; 
and  to  state  the  naked  facts,  in  order  to 
enable  the  reader  to  form  an  opinion  for 
himself — independent  of  that  I  have  ad- 
vanced. If  mine  be  erroneous,  let  it  be 
instantly  rejected. 

The  facts  of  this  case  for  calm  consideration. 

First,  engagements  were  entered  into  in 
Boston  by  individuals  pledging  themselves 
not  to  subscribe  to  the  government  loans. 

Secondly,  when  some  of  them  afterwards 
did  subscribe,  they  found  it  necessary  to  do 
it  "  secretly"  to  avoid  the  odium  which  was 
excited  against  all  who  lent  their  money  to 
the  government. 

Thirdly,  the  utmost  influence  of  that 
powerful  instrument,  the  press,  and  likewise 
of  the  pulpit,  was  employed  to  discourage 
and  denounce  subscribers.  They  were  de- 
clared to  be  absolute  il murderers" 

Fourthly,  during  the  winter,  when  the 
roads  were  in  wretched  order,  and  when 


96 


carriage  was  of  course  from  20  to  30  per 
cent,  dearer  than  the  common  freight,  the 
Boston  banks  made  immoderate,  continued, 
oppressive,  and  hostile  drafts  of  specie  on 
the  New  York  banks. 

Fifthly,  at  this  period  the  former  banks 
had  in  their  vaults  an  unprecedented  quan- 
tity of  specie — one  hundred  and  fifty  per 
cent,  more  than  their  notes  in  circulation. 

Sixthly,  these  drafts  were  continued 
through  the  spring  and  summer,  and  oblig- 
ed the  banks  in  the  middle  and  southern 
states  so  far  to  curtail  their  accommodations, 
as  to  bring  the  commercial  world  to  the 
verge  of  bankruptcy.  Large  and  ruinous 
bankruptcies  did  take  place — twenty  and 
upwards  took  place  in  New  York  in  one 
day. 

Seventhly,  the  drain  of  specie  was  car- 
ried so  far,  that  on  the  26th  of  August  the 
banks  in  Baltimore — on  the  29th  those  in 
Philadelphia — and  on  the  31st  those  in  New 
York  were  reduced  to  the  painful  necessity 
of  suspending  the  payment  of  specie. 

Eighthly,  cotemporaneously  with  these 
immoderate  drafts,  a  very  large   amount  of 


6# 

British  government  bills,  drawn  by  the  go* 
vernment  of  Lower  Canada,  were,  through 
the  medium  of  agents  in  Boston,  distributed 
in  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore. 

Ninthly,  these  bills  prodigiously  increased 
the  balances  against  the  southern  banks,  and 
the  power  of  drawing  possessed  by  those  in 
Boston. 

Tenthly,  for  these  bills  the  specie  received 
from  New  York  was  forwarded  to  the  agents 
of  the  government  of  Canada. 

Eleventhly,  When  subscriptions  for  loans 
were  opened,  large  quantities  of  public  stock 
were  sent  from  Boston,  and  thrown  into  the 
markets  in  New  York,  and  Philadelphia,  and 
Baltimore,  and  sold  at  reduced  rates,  to 
tempt  the  monied  people  to  invest  their  mo- 
ney therein,  and  thus  to  impede  the  success 
of  the  pending  loans. 

I  submit  all  these  strong  facts  to  the 
reader.  Let  him  examine  them,  and  decide 
for  himself.  If  he  be  an  upright,  candid, 
honourable  man— if  he  have  a  spark  of  pub- 
lic spirit  in  his  composition — if  he  have  not 
renounced  all  pretensions  to  the  name  of  a 
Washingtonian-— he  will  pronounce  sentence 
i 


98 

of  infamy  against  this  transaction,  all  its 
agents,  its  emissaries,  its  accomplices,  and 
against  all  who  connived  at  it.  If  this  be 
i(  federalism  of  the  Boston  stamp"  I  trust  the 
high-minded  and  honest  federalists  of  the 
middle  and  southern  states,  will  renounce 
the  odious  connexion,  and  disclaim  all  parti- 
cipation in  such  nefarious,  such  treasonable 
practices. 

The  millions  of  dollars,  which  form  so 
capital  an  item  in  Mr.  Oakley's  late  speech, 
were  lost  to  the  government  by  this  conspi- 
racy. 

Boston  has  been  the  guide  of  federalists 
throughout  the  union.  She  has  led  them  a 
devious  course  from  the  paths  prescribed 
by  Washington.  She  has  allured  them  to 
the  brink  of  insurrection,  rebellion,  civil 
war,  and  horrible  devastation,  which  are  all 
synonymous  with  a  dissolution  of  the  union. 
Whether  they  will  have  magnanimity  enough 
to  regain  the  honourable  paths  from  which 
they  have  been  seduced,  remains  to  be  seen. 
Their  cotemporaneous  fame — their  charac- 
ter with  posterity — their  peace,  their  happi- 


98 

of  infamy  against  this  transaction,  all  its  j* 
agents,  its  emissaries,  its  accomplices,  and 
against  all  who  connived  at  it.  If  this  be 
4«  federalism  of  the  Boston  stamp"  I  trust  the 
high-minded  and  honest  federalists  of  the 
middle  and  southern  states,  will  renounce 
the  odious  connexion,  and  disclaim  all  parti- 
cipation in  such  nefarious,  such  treasonable 
practices. 

The  millions  of  dollars,  which  form  so 
capital  an  item  in  Mr.  Oakley's  late  speech, 
were  lost  to  the  government  by  this  conspi- 
racy. 

Boston  has  been  the  guide  of  federalists 
throughout  the  union.  She  has  led  them  a 
devious  course  from  the  paths  prescribed 
by  Washington.  She  has  allured  them  to 
the  brink  of  insurrection,  rebellion,  civil 
war,  and  horrible  devastation,  which  are  all 
synonymous  with  a  dissolution  of  the  union. 
Whether  they  will  have  magnanimity  enough 
to  regain  the  honourable  paths  from  which 
they  have  been  seduced,  remains  to  be  seen. 
Their  cotemporaneous  fame — their  charac- 
ter with  posterity— their  peace,  their  happi- 


99 

less,  their  prosperity— the  fate  of  their  wives 
ind  children — the  destiny  of  their  country- 
he  question  whether  we  shall  be  united  as 
t  band  of  brothers,  or  involved  in  civil  war, 
*ith  its  train  of  horrors— are  all  at  stake.  The 
itake  is  immense.  Pray  heaven  they  may 
orm  a  just  and  enlightened  decision  ? 


FINIS. 


